A group of Canadian banks and pension funds said on Wednesday it will take its C$3.6 billion ($3.7 billion) bid for TMX Group directly to shareholders after the exchange operator rejected the bid in favor of a friendly offer from the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L).TMX (X.TO), parent of the Toronto Stock Exchange, last week rejected the takeover bid from Maple Group. Instead it has said it still supports a $3 billion combination with the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) unveiled in February. "We are disappointed that the TMX Board declined our repeated invitations to engage us in discussions," said Luc Bertrand, lead spokesman for the Maple Group. Bertrand is also vice chairman of National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), one of four Canadian banks in the group. Five leading pension fund managers are also involved.
Shares of X traded higher by 1.49% or $0.66/share to $44.89. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $36.93 and as high as $64.03. On average, 9789420 shares of X exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 5733924.
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