Japan Exchange Group to sell 4.95% stake in SGX over 3 years

It said it could continue its cooperative relationship with SGX even without becoming a shareholder.

Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX) plans to sell its 4.95% stake or 53.05 million shares in the Singapore Exchange (SGX) sequentially for approximately three years.

In an announcement, JPX said Japan’s Corporate Governance Code, which was introduced in 2015, requires listed companies to examine and explain the economic rationale and future outlook of holding shares of other listed companies for reasons other than pure investment purposes.

“Following a review of the requirements under the Code, JPX reached the conclusion that the existing cooperative relationship with SGX would continue even without holding the shares of SGX. Therefore, JPX has decided to sell the shares sequentially over a period of approximately three years,” the group added.

It bought the shares of SGX in June 2007 with the aim of constructing a cooperative relationship with SGX whilst taking into consideration the various alliances among exchanges abroad at that time.

“Furthermore, the cooperative relationship has been enhanced, through, among other things, entering into the letter of intent for mutual cooperation in 2014, to jointly promote measures that contribute to the increase in mutual corporate values,” the group added.