TORONTO, July 5 (Reuters) – Canada’s increasingly
aggressive competition watchdog, led by a tenacious former
litigator, poses a major hurdle for the bank-led consortium
trying to buy the country’s biggest stock market operator.

The Competition Bureau, led by Commissioner Melanie Aitken,
has proven its willingness to play hardball with major
opponents, slapping Canada’s biggest phone company with a
multimillion-dollar penalty and spurring its biggest airline to
shelve a major venture.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s increasingly aggressive competition watchdog, led by a tenacious former litigator, poses a major hurdle for the bank-led consortium trying to buy the country’s biggest stock market operator.

The Competition Bureau, led by Commissioner Melanie Aitken, has proven its willingness to play hardball with major opponents, slapping Canada’s biggest phone company with a multimillion-dollar penalty and spurring its biggest airline to shelve a major venture.

TORONTO, June 30 (Reuters) – TMX Group (X.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), operator of
Canada’s largest stock exchange, isn’t ready to say how it will
respond to a hostile Canadian offer, a day after it scrapped a
planned C$3.6 billion tie-up with the London Stock Exchange
(LSE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Chief Executive Tom Kloet said on Thursday that the firm,
which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange as well as the
smaller TSX Venture Exchange, was not in any kind of takeover
talks at present and was focusing on growth.

TORONTO (Reuters) – The odds are stacked against the London Stock Exchange in its bid to take over the operator of Canada’s biggest stock exchange, amid vocal endorsements for its made-in-Canada rival from investors, a billionaire activist and provincial politicians.

The LSE offer is worth C$3.6 billion, including a cash dividend to TMX Group shareholders. A rival offer from a bank-led Canadian consortium comes in at around C$3.8 billion.

TORONTO (Reuters) – The London Stock Exchange’s decision to sweeten its bid for TMX Group, operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, shows the companies’ confidence in the deal, TMX Chief Executive Tom Kloet said on Wednesday.

The LSE revised its friendly takeover offer to include a special dividend of C$4 per TMX share and 84.1 pence per ordinary share of the LSE. That brings the value of the deal to $4.1 billion, which tops a hostile $3.8 billion bid from a consortium of Canadian financial institutions.

TORONTO (Reuters) – A well-known proxy advisory firm recommended on Friday that shareholders of Canadian exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) vote in favor of a $3.5 billion takeover proposal from London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

TMX, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, is attempting to fend off a hostile $3.8 billion takeover bid from Maple Group Acquisition Corp, a consortium of 13 Canadian financial institutions. TMX favors the LSE’s offer.

TORONTO, June 16 (Reuters) – A Canadian consortium of
banks, pension funds and investment firms that hopes to acquire
the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange ramped up its sales
pitch to shareholders on Thursday with full page ads in
Canada’s two national newspapers.

Maple Group Acquisition Corp reached out to TMX Group
(X.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shareholders in a letter published in the Globe and Mail
and the National Post. The group urged them to vote their
yellow proxy against the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
friendly all-stock bid for TMX by June 28, ahead of a June 30
shareholder meeting that will decide TMX’s future.

TORONTO (Reuters) – The all-Canadian consortium that launched a hostile C$3.7 billion ($3.8 billion) takeover bid for TMX Group has no plans to sweeten its C$48-a-share offer or change any other terms, a source with knowledge of Maple’s strategy said on Wednesday.

The source said, there was “no intention right now of changing the terms” for TMX, the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and the Montreal Exchange for derivatives.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Maple Group launched a C$3.7 billion ($3.8 billion) hostile bid for Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group on Monday, an all-Canadian challenge to the London Stock Exchange’s agreed bid.

The Maple Group consortium’s long-awaited official bid proposed C$48 a share cash for 70 percent of shares, compared with 60 percent in the original proposal nearly a month ago.

TORONTO, June 12 (Reuters) – Four more financial
institutions have joined Maple Group Acquisition Corp’s plan to
mount a hostile bid for the TMX Group (X.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and top a friendly
offer from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the
consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds said on Sunday. Desjardins Financial Group, GMP Capital Inc (GMP.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Dundee Capital Markets (DCM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Manulife Financial (MFC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have agreed to join Maple's C$3.6 billion (US$3.7 billion) bid for the operator of Canada's main bourse. Maple Group, which takes its name from Canada's patriotic maple leaf symbol, says its offer is financially superior to the roughly US$3.4 billion all-stock bid from the London exchange and would keep ownership of the TMX within the country's borders. The new partners would own 7 percent of the new entity, while the original pension funds' share would be reduced to 31 percent from 35 percent. The original banks' ownership would be cut to 22 percent from 25 percent. TMX Group investors would still own 40 percent. Maple's original bank members are Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), National Bank of Canada (NA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). Five pension funds also form part of the original group: Alberta Investment Management Corp, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Fonds de solidarite des travailleurs du Quebec (FTQ) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. Maple, which is expected to take its hostile bid to TMX shareholders any day now, has less than three weeks to convince investors its "all-Canadian" alternative is better for the country's capital markets. Shareholders will vote on the TMX-LSE deal on June 30. Maple's new partners also tout what they see as the benefits of Maple's proposal to Canada's small- and mid-cap companies and to Montreal, Quebec, home to TMX's Montreal Exchange for derivatives. "We believe Maple's vision ... includes a real commitment to further Montreal's position as a center of financial excellence," Monique Leroux, chief executive of Desjardins, Canada's largest cooperative financial group, said in a statement. With a number of Maple members based in the French-speaking province and Luc Bertrand, vice-chairman of Quebec-based National Bank, acting as Maple's chief spokesman, Quebec may prove influential. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ FACTBOX-Key players in TMX battle [nN02238198] TIMELINE-TMX takeover battle http:/r.reuters.com/qez89r Graphic of TMX market share http:/r.reuters.com/kyd89r ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The Maple bid -- which partly hinges on regulatory approval of the acquisition of Alpha Group, Canada's leading alternative trading system, and the CDS clearinghouse -- will face antitrust scrutiny, as the Alpha/CDS component of the proposal would give the new entity a big share of the Canadian market. Six of the 13 Maple members are owners of Alpha, which competes with TMX's Toronto Stock Exchange. Integrating Alpha would give TMX more than 80 percent of the trading market. SHOW OF SUPPORT VS CONFLICT OF INTEREST Investors who spoke to Reuters in a recent poll signaled that the outcome remained uncertain, with many hoping Maple's circular would provide more details on its bid. [ID:nN02266428] Last week, Alpha chief executive Jos Schmitt told Reuters that additional Maple members would demonstrate a show of support to investors, a sentiment previously expressed by others. Not everyone is convinced, however. "It's two steps forward and five steps back," said Renee Colyer, chief executive of markets consultancy Forefactor, adding that should the Maple deal go through, it would create another monopoly market with "too many conflicts to count". "I knew they'd bring in others -- they have to. They are trying to reduce the conflict of interest by bringing in more players, increase the dollar amount they have to change the deal and demonstrate to the government how many firms want Canada to be a closed market." While Maple faces Canada's Competition Bureau, the LSE bid must win approval under the Investment Canada Act, which requires foreign takeovers to provide a "net benefit" to Canada. Provincial regulators also have a say, but those hurdles are considered less onerous. The LSE offer price is based on the exchange's closing price on Friday. (Additional reporting by Allan Dowd in Vancouver; Editing by Dale Hudson)