Together ASX and SGX will offer access to:
•     second largest listing venue in Asia Pacific  with over 2,700 listed companies from over 20 countries,  including over 200 listings from Greater China;
•     world’s second largest cluster of companies in the resource sector (more than 900 listings),  the largest REITs sector (over 80 listings) and the largest number of ETFs (over 100) in Asia Pacific ;
•     world’s widest range of Asia Pacific equity, fixed income and commodity derivatives with over 400 contracts from over 10 countries,  including Australia, Greater China, India and Japan, and covering a range of commodities including metals, energy and agricultural products;
•     Asia Pacific ’s largest and the world’s second largest base of institutional investors with combined assets under management of over US$2.3 trillion from existing superannuation, institutional and sovereign wealth funds;
•     global distribution network with over 90 securities market participant firms and over 170 derivatives market participant firms on a combined basis; and
•     leading exchange technology, including   the proposed introduction of the world’s fastest trading platform with the lowest trading latency and flexible data and connectivity solutions.
 
ASX and SGX will remain separate legal and locally regulated entities, and will maintain their existing brands. This will allow  the two exchanges to maintain their existing iconic identities, which are well established in their home markets and internationally, while enabling customers to benefit from cross-market synergies and the greater scale, diversity and broader expertise of the combined group.
The combination of ASX and SGX will diversify the product and customer bases of the two exchanges and create cross-access opportunities for market participant firms. Listed companies will benefit from the increased profile of the listing platform among the global investing community and be able to benefit from an enlarged liquidity pool of investable funds.

The combined group will  be able to harness an expanded and compatible reservoir of skills to further develop and grow the Australian and Singapore marketplaces. The combined group will also enhance its attractiveness as a partner of choice for future exchange industry collaboration and consolidation opportunities to tap into strong regional growth.

While ASX and SGX currently achieve a high level of operational efficiency, pre-tax cost synergies and other transaction-related cost savings - comprising IT and non-IT related savings - are estimated to be US$30 million annually  based on existing cost structures .

In addition, given the complementary nature of the two businesses and their existing organic growth prospects, growth opportunities are expected to be derived from the introduction of new products and services in both markets. This will arise through leveraging expanded capabilities, opportunities to cross-sell services and grow trading activity from access to an enlarged member and investor base, and a greater ability to attract international listings as a result of an improved competitive positioning.

The pro forma market capitalisation of the combined group was  approximately US$12.3 billion [1] as at 22 October 2010,  creating the world’s fifth largest listed exchange group with a broad international shareholder base. The combined group is expected to have an increased weight in selected benchmark indices and will have added visibility among institutional investors globally.