TOKYO - The Tokyo Stock Exchange said on Thursday that it had completed a $1.1 billion public tender offer for its smaller rival, the Osaka Securities Exchange, moving closer to a merger that could bolster Japan's standing as an Asian financial hub.
The Tokyo exchange said it had received tenders totaling 80 percent of the Osaka exchange, above the 67 percent it had sought. The Tokyo exchange had offered to buy each share in its rival for 480,000 yen ($6,100), almost 10 percent above the Osaka exchange's closing price on Thursday.
The tender offer, which began July 11 and closed Wednesday, values the Osaka exchange at 130 billion yen. The deal seeks to combine the strengths of the Tokyo exchange, which dominates the cash equity market in Japan, with those of Osaka, which focuses on derivatives trading.
The combined value of domestic stocks listed on the two exchanges came to $3.5 trillion in July, trailing only NYSE Euronext at $13.2 trillion and the Nasd aq OMX Group at $4.5 trillion, according to Reuters.
In a statement, the Tokyo Stock Exchange chief executive, Atsushi Saito, said he hoped to make the combined company “the growth engine of the Japanese economy and the financial hub of Asia.â€
Michio Yoneda, chief executive of the Osaka exchange, said that in an age of global competition, fighting Tokyo “in a small glass†was increasingly futile.
Osaka shareholders must still approve the merger at a meeting expected later this year, preceded by a share swap.
The merger won approval from Japan's Fair Trade Commission last month, clearing an important hurdle. Regulators have scuttled a number of attempted mergers by exchanges around the world in recent years, including the merger deal between Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext.
If approved, the combined entity would be named the Japan Exchange Group and could be set up as soon as January, the Tokyo exchange said.
