London: The London Stock Exchange has agreed to sell Milan’s Borsa Italiana stock exchange to Euronext for 4. 4.3 billion ($ 5 billion).

Last month, LSE confirmed that it had held separate talks with Pan-European Borges operator Euronext about the sale of the Borsa Italiana Group.

This is after LSE reached the exact terms for the acquisition of the data provider Refinitive for $ 27 billion. The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has launched an in-depth investigation to consider the terms of the proposed deal.

Sales of Borsa Italiana depend, among other things, on the refinitive transaction.

“We continue to make good progress on a very attractive refinitive transaction and we are pleased to have reached this important milestone,” LSE Group CEO David Schwimmer said in a statement on Friday.

“We believe the sale of the Borsa Italiana Group will go a long way in resolving EU competition concerns,” he added.

LSE expects the refinitive agreement to be completed by the end of 2020 or early 2021, with the Borsa Italiana deal set to take place within the first six months of next year.

Shares of LSE rose 0.2 percent, or 0.7 percent, on Euronext news, shortly after the opening bell.

“We want to start the next phase of our history by collaborating with Euronext, CDP Equity and Intesa San Paulo to further develop our business and contribute to the development of European capital markets,” Borsa Italiana CEO Rafael Jerusalem said on Friday.

Borsa Italiana’s sales in Italy are seen as politically sensitive due to the ownership of MTS’s Borsa, a bond platform that handles the electronic trading of Italian government bonds and other fixed income securities.

Euronext has partnered with Italy’s largest bank, Intesa San Paulo, and the state agency CDP to win the support of the Rome government.

“This is a significant achievement in the company’s strategic plan and a turning point in the history of our group,” said Stephen Bajna, CEO and Managing Board Chairman, Euronext.