When David buys Goliath: London Stock Exchange Group, post-Refinitiv deal

Client: London Stock Exchange Group

In 2021, the London Stock Exchange Group acquired Refinitiv for $27bn. It created a new Corporate Affairs and Marketing (CAM) function of 400 people across the communications spectrum, drawn from two teams with distinctly different cultures and ways of working. A new leader came in to reshape the function and make it fit for the future. Unusually, LSEG opted for a practitioner-led approach to CAM’s transformation at a time when the eyes of the world were on the Group’s performance post-deal. Sustaining stakeholder support throughout the ambitious and challenging change programme was essential to business continuity and effective communication was critical. Lansons, with partners, Fourtold and expert advisor, David Wheldon OBE, deployed a cross-discipline team of specialists with hands-on experience in corporate affairs and marketing best practice, to work collaboratively with LSEG teams and bring the communications disciplines together around a common goal. The work addressed the function’s structural and operational challenges by removing silos, eradicating duplication, simplifying processes and aligning the function’s priorities with the Group’s needs. Significant change was successfully implemented while sustaining widespread support, both within the function and from senior stakeholders; repositioning CAM as a valued strategic partner that was in step with the business. The reset of LSEG’s CAM function challenges the assumption that change projects are the sole purview of management consultancies. It demonstrates that corporate affairs and marketing professionals have a valuable and unique role to play in the transformation of big business; both how it is communicated and how it is done.