Russia's largest stock exchanges, the MICEX and RTS signed a long-awaited deal on Wednesday creating a single stock exchange in Russia, the bourses said.
The merger will create a single Russian trading platform for equities, derivatives, and financial instruments, as well as providing for considerable commodity trading.
Under a deal agreed in February, the MICEX will buy out shares from five major RTS shareholders - Renaissance Capital, Aton, Alfa-Bank, Troika Dialog and Da Vinci Capital and will eventually buy stakes from other RTS shareholders.
The announcement of the deal for the MICEX to buy out the rival RTS comes after months of talks about a possible merger and is in line with Russian government plans to increase Moscow's prominence as a financial center.
The ruble denominated MICEX currently accounts for about 80 percent of equities trading in Russia, with the internationally better known, and dollar denominated RTS accounting for the rest.
