Japan Exchange Group to sell its 4.95% stake in SGX progressively over three years

Japan Exchange Group (JPX) said on Friday that it will sell its 4.95 per cent stake in Singapore Exchange (SGX) progressively over a period of about three years.

The introduction of Japan's Corporate Governance Code in 2015 requires listed companies in Japan to examine and explain the economic rationale and future outlook of holding shares of other listed companies for reasons other than pure investment purposes, JPX said.

"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," JPX said in its announcement.

The group noted that it acquired the stake in SGX in June 2007 with the aim of building a cooperative relationship with SGX while taking into account the various alliances among exchanges abroad at that time.

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