WRAPUP 4-LSE, TMX abort their merger, leaving both in play, (SGXL), (ASX), (LSE), (TSE: X)

The London Stock Exchange's C$3.6 billion plan to purchase its Toronto counterpart collapsed on Wednesday in the face of a competing bid led by Canadian banks, leaving the UK exchange itself vulnerable to takeover. The failure, which follows Singapore Exchange Ltd.'s (SGXL.SI) scuttled bid for Australia's ASX Ltd (ASX.AX), is the latest sign of nationalist pride frustrating cross-border deals for highly symbolic capital markets. The failed bid from LSE (LSE.L) opens the door to a hostile C$3.8 billion offer for TMX Group (X.TO), operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, from the Maple Group consortium. The consortium bid is a made-in-Canada alternative to a takeover that would have put a big domestic asset in foreign hands. "This is a group of Canadians, businesses that came together and have asserted themselves," said Dwight Duncan, the province of Ontario's finance minister and an early opponent of the LSE deal.