A spokeswoman for the Finance Ministry said at a government news conference it was a corporate issue that she would not comment on. Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said he had nothing to add to that.

In an unusual step, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Sunday preempted a European Commission antitrust decision, saying it was unlikely to give clearance for the merger after the London bourse had refused to sell an electronic trading platform in Italy.

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Joseph Nasr)