Activist investor Elliott builds up stake in London Stock Exchange Group

The activist investor Elliott Management has built up a “significant” stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and is engaging with the company to drive its performance at a time of reduced listings and concerns about disruption from artificial intelligence.Elliott’s exact shareholding in LSEG was unclear; the Financial Times, which first reported the stake, added that the fund had been in talks with LSEG to help it work on improvement, encourage the group to consider a fresh share buyback and to try to narrow the gap with its rivals.Shares in LSEG climbed by as much as 6% in early trading on Wednesday before falling back slightly.LSEG is best known for operating the London Stock Exchange but in recent times has moved away from its traditional stock market activities and now derives almost half of its revenues from its data and analytics arm after its 2020 takeover of the financial data provider Refinitiv.The company’s share price has declined steadily over the past year, amid investor concerns that its income will be squeezed by AI disruption at a time of growing competition.LSEG’s shares have slid by more than 35% in the past 12 months and took a tumble of 13% at the start of the month after the US AI startup Anthropic launched a tool for use by companies’ legal departments that investors feared could dent LSEG’s data business.LSEG is just the latest company targeted by the activist hedge fund. It comes after Elliott built a stake in BP worth almost £3.8bn, or 5% of its shares, in early 2025, becoming the oil company’s third-largest shareholder.BP’s chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, was ousted in December after less than two years in the job, after pressure from Elliott, which also led a successful campaign against the oil company’s chair, Helge Lund, earlier in 2025.Elliott typically takes stakes in companies that it believes have lost value because of mismanagement, and demands changes that can improve their market value. It has previously agitated for a shake-up at the drugmaker GSK and the housebuilder Taylor Wimpey.The feared New York hedge fund is also the owner of the combined Waterstones and Barnes & Noble bookstore chains and is reportedly preparing to list them on the stock market. Elliott is thought to prefer London over New York for a listing, which would be seen as a welcome boost to the UK stock market.There was a pickup in the rate of businesses choosing to list in London in the second half of 2025, although concerns remain that takeovers and delistings have reduced the number of the UK’s public companies.LSEG and Elliott declined to comment.