The sweep is a classic M&A defense move from the British and German companies, to make it harder for U.S. rivals such as Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and CME Group Inc. to bust up their marriage, the people said. Atlanta-based ICE on Tuesday confirmed that it’s exploring an offer for the LSE, attempting to scuttle the U.K. company’s merger talks with Deutsche Boerse, which would create a dominant European stock exchange operator.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/lse-deutsche-boerse-said-to-do-street-sweep-to-hinder-rivals