SGX-ASX merger

[ratkin]

Is this merger going to make it easier for us to buy asian shares via the new big exchange , or is it only going to be aussies who benefit?

[Huang Chung]

I'm an Aussie, and I'm not even sure it's going to give us easy access to SGX listed stocks.

For Kiwi's, I'd say forget it....

[JayPe]

Is the merger even going to happen? Looks like there's a lot of kerfuffle about this politically (who would have thought eh?):
- the Greens (1 MP + a number of Senators) have stated they will not support the merger
- Independents/crossbenchers Tony Crook, Andrew Wilkie & Bob Katter said they did not support the merger
- the Opposition is talking about how they really do support foreign investment in principle, but there's the whole "national interest" thing
- the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has issued a statement full of the "national interest", "market integrity" and the "regulatory process" (you can successfully guess the rest)

The transaction needs to be approved by Parliament indirectly, as regulations need to be changed allowing a party to hold more than 15% of the ASX shares. Its interesting to note that the ASX share price jumped 20% when the offer was announced (much less than the 37% premium) and when the Greens leader made his comments they dropped 7.5%. So its no done deal.

Sources:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/asx-t...026-171la.html (http://www.smh.com.au/business/asx-takeover-faces-big-hurdles-20101026-171la.html)
http://www.smh.com.au/business/indep...028-174is.html (http://www.smh.com.au/business/independents-to-oppose-asx-takeover-20101028-174is.html)