Daily Briefing: SGX makes formal offer for Baltic Exchange; DBS gave Swiber bridging loan before wind-up application

And ex-Keppel agent says managers backed bribes.

Singapore Exchange Ltd. will make a formal offer for the Baltic Exchange by the middle of this month in a move that could see another historic London marketplace end up in foreign hands, two people involved in the matter said Wednesday. Read more here.

Singapore’s largest bank was supporting Swiber Holdings Ltd. until just before the troubled oil services company said it was unable to pay its debts. DBS Group Holdings Ltd. provided a bridging loan to Singapore-based Swiber shortly before it filed for liquidation, the bank said in an e-mail late Tuesday. Read more here.

The world’s largest builder of offshore oil rigs has seen investments plummet in one of its most important markets. A major client, Sete Brasil Participacoes, has entered bankruptcy protection. Then last month a former agent fanned the flames of an ongoing corruption investigation by saying in court that the Singapore-based company’s top managers authorized him to pay bribes to win work with state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA. Read more here.