The chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, Xavier Rolet, is to retire after a planned merger with German rival Deutsche Boerse that will see the combined firm have its main listing in London.
After two previous attempts at joining forces, the pair announced a planned 'merger of equals' on Tuesday.
They said they were confident regulatory and other concerns that had scuppered those deals would not prove their undoing this time.
With a British vote on European Union membership planned for June 23, the firms sought to reassure investors today that their merger would prosper regardless of the outcome, even if the volume of trade in London and Frankfurt changed.
"Accordingly, the outcome of the referendum would not be a condition of the potential merger," they said, although a joint committee had been set up to advise on the implications of the vote.
A deal would combine the LSE's share-trading operation with the derivatives trading of Deutsche Boerse's Eurex in a group worth almost $30 billion.
It would propel the companies to a similar scale as US exchange ICE, which has taken a huge slice of the European derivatives markets.
The politically sensitive deal had put a focus on who would lead the combined company and where it would be based. In the end, a joint statement showed the spoils would be divided.
While the firm's main domicile would be in Britain, with a primary listing on the blue-chip FTSE 100, it would also have a home on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and corporate headquarters in both cities.
Governance would also be split, with Rolet agreeing to step down to create room for Deutsche Boerse CEO Carsten Kengeter to lead the combined firm.
LSE chairman Donald Brydon would retain his role in the joint company, as would chief financial officer David Warren.
Taking the opportunity again to talk up the merits of the deal, the firms said the merger would help both companies "strengthen each other in an industry-defining combination", through their "complementary growth strategies, products, services and geographic footprint".
Cost synergies would be mainly from removing duplication of technology and operations across business lines, they said, with the impact "distributed in a balanced manner across the two companies".
