An insider with a raft of political connections is steering a proposed C$3.6 billion made-in-Canada takeover of the country's largest exchange operator as Canadian banks fight off a foreign bid. Luc Bertrand, who helped create the TMX Group (X.TO) in 2008, wants to derail a $3 billion offer from the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) and keep Canada's biggest stock market in Canadian hands. As spokesman for Maple Group Acquisition Corp, named for Canada's Maple Leaf flag and set up solely to bid for the TMX, he says he wants to move the exchange operator to a new level by merging it with Alpha, a bank-owned alternative trading system that has taken away TMX market share. "He's very astute and he understands the exchange world," said Georges Ugeux, chief executive of Galileo Global Advisors, a New York-based, cross-border merger advisory firm that worked on several past exchange deals.
TMX Group Inc. is an integrated, multi-asset class exchange group. Shares of X fell by 0.04% or $-0.02/share to $44.87. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $36.93 and as high as $64.03. On average, 10176400 shares of X exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 6359267.
Source
