Singapore Exchange to press ahead with $8.2-bn merger with ASX

Singapore Exchange (SGX) today said that it will press ahead with its proposed $8.2 billion bid for Australian stock exchange operator ASX despite Australian lawmakers having indicated that they would torpedo the deal.

In an interview today with the Straits Times newspaper, Magnus Bocker, CEO of SGX said that he was not at all surprised by the opposition to the deal in Australia but will try to push ahead the merger.

"All the reactions that I have seen so far, I am not really surprised… We need to give it a sincere and good try," Bocker told the Singapore paper.

He also said that the merger of both the bourses was in the best interest of both countries as it offered many benefits to listed companies, investors and brokers.

In October 2010, the SGX had proposed to acquire ASX, for $8.2 billion in a cash and stock transaction in order to create Asia's fourth largest bourse by volume and the world's fifth-largest stock exchange company by market value. (See: Singapore Exchange offers $8.2 billion for Australian Securities Exchange)

Under the SGX proposal, the combined group would continue to operate from Australia and Singapore, maintain their existing brands and will remain as separate legal and locally regulated entities, but gain efficiencies from sharing technology platforms and product development.