The London Stock Exchange is this morning set to pass an important milestone in its bid to launch its new Baikal dark pool system before the end of June this year by announcing a series of technology deals in a crucial move as it seeks to protect its equities franchise.

The exchange is expected to say that it has signed a deal to work with trading system giant Fidessa, which will handle the smart order routing of trades to other exchanges and dark pools on behalf of Baikal.