Singapore Exchange lodged a formal application to Australia's FIRB on Friday to get approval for its proposed $7.7 billion takeover of ASX , bringing it one step closer to a deal to create a large pan-Asian bourse operator. SGX's cash-and-share bid for ASX has already cleared Australia's competition regulator and getting Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval would be a major second step. The Singapore bourse operator's biggest test will be to win approval from Australian politicans to lift a 15 percent cap on any single shareholder for a deal to go through, as many lawmakers have objected to the deal on nationalistic grounds.
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