ASX Limited

ASX:ASX

ASX Limited

ASX:ASX
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$65.59 (+2%)
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Forum Topics ASX ASX Possible Takeover

Pinned straw:
Mujo
Added 8 months ago

Seems like speculation every day at the moment but some have played out.

"It’s been more down than up for the ASX in the last few years. That’s not the index, but the market operator, which seriously bungled the roll-out of a crucial upgrade of clearance and settlement systems, resulting in more than casual regulatory scrutiny.

That, and generally poor conditions for new listings since the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted in a weak share price. Over five years, in fact, it’s down some 14 per cent.

But ASX Limited is still attractive to someone, it seems. Street Talk can reveal a consortium of superannuation funds, including industry giants and major shareholders AustralianSuper and UniSuper, seriously considered lobbing a takeover bid only late last year." per AFR
Strawman
Added 8 months ago

I can totally see how someone would be interested in acquiring ASX Ltd.

For starters, it's essentially a monopoly; something that is evidenced by their 50%-plus NET margins. That's pretty amazing for a business that has a lot of bloat in its cost base (in my opinion). The CEO is paid over $2 million per year!! Outrageous.

And they can sustain operations -- as well as set tens of millions on fire via stupid projects -- while also paying out 85% of after tax profit as dividends! All while holding $1 Billion in cash and virtually no debt.

Frankly, everyone is upset at Woolies for price gouging, but the ASX is the king in this regard. They'll charge you tens of thousands annually just for the right to display price and announcement information (you have to then pay a data provider separately for the actual data). So much for a public market.

Anyway, Buffett says you should want a business even a ham sandwich could run, and this fits the bill in that regard.

Given they are undergoing a huge (and almost certainly highly wasteful) technology replacement program, i'm not an interested buyer at present. But at a yield of 5-6% i'd certainly consider it very seriously.

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Mujo
Added 3 months ago

Monopoly might be breaking sooner than expected?

FinClear is preparing to break the ASX’s monopoly on crucial clearing and settlement services after the corporate regulator granted the Magellan Financial-backed infrastructure provider the first licences to allow shares in private companies to be traded using blockchain technology.

FinClear, which was founded in 2015 and provides share registry services for stockbrokers and private companies, said the new licences paved the way for it to break ASX’s monopoly, at a time the sharemarket operator is significantly behind in its own plans to replace a three-decade old post-trade services system.

The company was quietly granted a clearing and settlement licence, overseen by the Reserve Bank, and a markets licence, provided by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, last month.

These will allow its new market, called FCX, to exchange securities for unlisted companies, along with units in managed investment schemes. The market licence will allow FCX to create book builds and liquidity for private company transactions on its secondary market, while the clearing and settlement licence lets it facilitate exchange of security title and manage payments.

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