Singapore Exchange (SGXL.SI) will seek other opportunities if its proposed $7.9 billion ($10.1 billion) takeover of Australian bourse operator ASX (ASX.AX) fails, its chief executive said on Friday.
“We have other fishes,” Magnus Bocker said at a business luncheon, responding to a question posed to him.
Bocker did not comment when asked if he would look for other exchanges to merge with.
The planned SGX-ASX merger, the first major attempt at consolidation of Asia-Pacific exchanges, has been followed in recent weeks by a global wave of bourse mergers.
On Tuesday, Germany’s Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) sealed a deal to acquire Big Board parent NYSE Euronext (NYX.N). And last week, London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) agreed to buy Canada’s TMX Group (X.TO).
The SGX-ASX deal faces regulatory hurdles, including getting Australia’s parliament to lift a 15 percent ownership cap on the ASX and approval from the country’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
In a revised merger proposal this week, the two bourses said ASX and SGX will each have an equal number of directors in a merged group, a move aimed at winning support from Australian politicians.
“I’m very pleased with the reaction we have after the announcement on Tuesday. We could not have asked for more,” Bocker, a 25-year veteran of the exchange industry, said.
However, Australia’s influential Greens Party and independents have voiced concerns about the deal despite the revised offer.
The Australian government has refused to comment on the revised offer.
Analysts said SGX may have to give greater equity share to ASX shareholders to win the deal. Under the current proposal, ASX shareholders will own about 36 of the combined company whereas SGX shareholders will own the majority 64%.
“ASX-SGX’s move to provide a more equal board structure shows a willingness to get the deal done,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note to clients on Friday.
“However, we think more equal equity ownership could still be required to ease any political pushback.”
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