China Merchants Group said to make informal bid for Baltic Exchange

State-owned China Merchants Group has made an informal bid for London’s Baltic Exchange, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources. The approach to buy the global maritime shipping exchange was made by group subsidiary China Merchants Securities, according to the sources. The subsidiary did not respond to repeated requests for comment. A number of other buyers reportedly are or have been in talks with Baltic Exchange over the past year, including Singapore Exchange Ltd, CME Group, ICE, Platts and the London Metals Exchange. Acquisition of Baltic would grant ownership over global maritime shipping’s benchmark indices and greater access to the global freight derivatives market.