Several presses reported that Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE), which runs the Hercules market for start-ups, submitted a proposal to Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA) to acquire the JASDAQ Securities Exchange. Currently JSDA holds 72% of JASDAQ’s outstanding shares, and a meeting between the top managements is scheduled in early December.
At present, there are seven markets for start-ups in Japan. This appears to be rather too many for securities exchanges, and against the backdrop that individual investors have been showing less interest in start-up markets, many market participants have been debating on realignment of the start-up markets.
JSDA hasn’t commented officially on the proposal yet, so it is unclear to which direction the discussion will be heading. But JSDA will articulate their policy by the end of December as to how they would reorganize their ownership of JASDAQ.