By Jonathan Saul and Saeed Azhar

LONDON/SINGAPORE, June 28 (Reuters) – Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) and London’s Baltic Exchange have prolonged by two months unique talks which can result in a sale of the British firm on the coronary heart of worldwide transport, the 2 companies mentioned on Tuesday.

Founded in 1744, the privately-owned Baltic Exchange is not a discussion board for chartering vessels however owns benchmark indexes for international transport charges and supplies a buying and selling platform for the multi-billion greenback freight derivatives market.

On May 25, the 2 sides mentioned SGX was in unique talks to purchase the Baltic, which had been on account of expire on June 30. They mentioned on Tuesday the exclusivity interval had been prolonged to Aug. 31.

“Over the past weeks the Baltic Exchange and SGX have together met with Baltic Exchange shareholders, members and panellists as well as the wider stakeholder community to discuss the potential transaction and have made good progress in consultations,” the Baltic mentioned.

“The extension to the period of exclusivity allows this dialogue to continue.”

SGX reiterated on Tuesday there was no assurance of a deal.

Sources have beforehand valued the sale at $100 million.

A Baltic spokesman mentioned Britain’s vote to depart the European Union had no bearing on the extension of the talks.

The Baltic’s every day benchmark charges and indices are used to commerce and settle freight contracts in addition to knowledge used within the freight derivatives or FFA market, which permit traders to take positions on freight charges sooner or later. The knowledge is collected every day from market gamers referred to as panellists.

Competitive Ship Brokers Limited (CSBL), a recently-founded affiliation of smaller gamers in sector, mentioned it objected to signing exclusivity for the info they contributed as panellists, which is seen as a key requirement for a deal.

CSBL chairman Gary Weston mentioned the extension by the Baltic was “buying them some time to see if they can improve the terms to the panellists”.

“If we don’t sign it, the Baltic will need to make a decision can they go without us,” he added.

The Baltic spokesman declined to remark when requested if extending talks was additionally on account of resolving points with the panellists.

In February, the Baltic confirmed it had acquired a lot of “exploratory approaches” after SGX mentioned it was in search of to purchase it.

The London Metal Exchange, CME Group, ICE , state-run conglomerate China Merchants Group and Platts had been amongst different potential bidders, sources instructed Reuters beforehand. (Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.