TSX agrees to talk with suitor Maple Group
The company that runs the Toronto Stock Exchange is willing to talk with the group of investment funds and banks which have made a hostile bid for the exchange.
TMX Group Inc. said late Thursday that its board has authorized management to talk to Maple Group Acquisition Corp. "regarding its unsolicited offer."
The board is not making any recommendation to shareholders about the Maple bid, which is currently set to run until Aug. 8.
Maple members
Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, CIBC World Markets Inc., Desjardins Financial Group, Dundee Capital Markets Inc., Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec, GMP Capital Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Scotia Capital Inc., TD Securities Inc., Manufacturers Life Insurance Company.
"The commencement of discussions is a positive step," Maple spokesman Luc Bertrand said in response to the TMX announcement, while warning that there is no guarantee that the talks will lead to an agreement backed by the TMX directors.
TMX endorsed a friendly takeover by the London Stock Exchange made early this year, but that deal fell apart June 29, a week after Maple raised its competing bid. Maple upped its offer to $50 a TMX share and raised the proportion of shares to be bought for cash to 80 per cent. It valued the deal at about $3.8 billion.
A majority of TMX shareholders backed the LSE bid, but not the two-thirds needed, the exchanges said.