The London Stock Exchange, which confirmed today that it has reached an agreement to acquire rival trading platform Turquoise, plans to offer a 9% stake in the company to other parties once the deal has completed.

The LSE, which entered exclusive sales talks with the alternative exchange in October, as first reported by Financial News, will take a 60% share in the merged entity with the remainder to be held by Turquoise's existing bank shareholders. The move pitches the UK market into direct competition with its largest competitors for the first time.