Cementing its place as the world’s most vibrant shipping hub, Singapore has moved to take over one of the industry’s key trading barometers. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has joined a host of firms keen to buy out London’s Baltic Exchange. SGX revealed Friday it had made a non-binding bid for the exchange.
The London Metal Exchange (which was bought out by the Hong Kong Exchange a few years ago), CME Group, ICE and Platts are all believed to be interested in taking over the venerable British institution too.
The Baltic, whose history dates back 272 years, is owned by its bulk shipping industry members and has overseas offices in Singapore, Shanghai and Athens.
For SGX, which has seen derivatives trading become enormously popular, the acquisition would be a huge coup. Its last attempt to buy an overseas exchange, the ASX in Australia, failed in 2011.
Baltic Exchange chairman Guy Campbell said today: “At this stage, no formal offer has been received, but when considering any approach the board will first carefully consider the views and interests of all its stakeholders. Should we receive an offer, we will only recommend an offer that meets not only the interests of shareholders, but also the interests of ordinary Baltic members, index panel members, the users of Baltic Exchange freight market information and the principals and brokers who trade in the FFA market.”
The Baltic Exchange has appointed Nomura International and Norton Rose Fulbright as advisors.
