SINGAPORE-Singapore Exchange Ltd. on Thursday said it has made an offer to buy the Baltic Exchange for 77.6 million British pounds ($103.4 million), a deal that could lead to another historic London marketplace ending up in foreign hands.
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On May 25, the two sides said SGX was in exclusive talks to buy the Baltic, which were subsequently extended until August 31.
To pass it will have to gain 75pc support at the meeting, with at least 50pc of members voting their shares, a spokesman for the Baltic Exchange said, with a meeting not expected to take place before September.
The Baltic Exchange said that it would consult with major shareholders to seek their support for SGX’s offer.
The SGX had earlier said that it will keep the Baltic Exchange’s headquarters in St Mary Axe in London if the acquisition goes through, and also retain the end-user data fees charged by the Baltic Exchange at the same level for at least five years.
“SGX has agreed with the Baltic Exchange.to proceed with the solicitation of support from shareholders”, it said, emphasising that the deal had yet to be finalised and there was no assurance of a definitive agreement.
Founded in 1744, the Baltic Exchange provides daily freight market prices and maritime shipping cost indices used globally for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative contracts.
“Everything is proceeding on track”. There is still no clear indication at the moment whether there will be enough to push it through. Stirling fell 14 per cent against the dollar after Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union, but has since recovered nearly 4 per cent.
Sources have put the value of the potential deal in the region of $100 million.
A wooden plaque is seen on a wall at The Baltic Exchange in the City of London, Britain, on March 2, 2016. That building was destroyed in a bombing by the Irish Republican Army in 1992.
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In February, the Baltic confirmed it had received a number of “exploratory approaches” after SGX said it was seeking to buy it. Other suitors included Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc., CME Group Inc., the operator of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; and state-run conglomerate China Merchants Group, two people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones.
