Australian independent lawmaker Bob Katter has moved a motion in the nation’s parliament asking representatives to oppose the takeover of ASX, operator of the country’s main bourse, by Singapore Exchange.

ASX is not a company like a “chook farm or factory,” Katter said, using an Australian term for chicken. “It is the sale of a regulatory mechanism that is now going to be in the hands of a foreign corporation.”

 

Singapore Exchange, part-owned by the city-state’s government, on Oct. 25 offered A$8.4 billion ($10.8 billion) in cash and shares for ASX. Debate on the motion was adjourned.

Katter’s motion asked the members of the House of Representatives to oppose any sale of ASX that would “provide majority foreign ownership,” and to note such a sale “would not merely involve the ASX as an asset, but may hand over to a foreign corporation the regulatory function inherent in a stock exchange.”

 

A merger of the two bourse operators would not undermine the Australian government’s ability to regulate the country’s stock market operations, Malcolm Starr, executive general manager of regulatory and public policy at ASX, told Bloomberg News on Nov. 12.