The Ontario Securities Commission has set aside two full days in July for public hearings into the proposed merger of TMX Group Inc. and London Stock Exchange Group.
The public consultation is to take place July 21 and 22 at the Toronto Eaton Centre Marriott.
The OSC said the planned merger of the exchange groups “raises significant public policy issues that are important to market participants and the Ontario capital market” and the public consultation is intended to give interested parties an opportunity to express their views “directly to the commission.”
Canada’s largest capital markets regulator is a key player in the proposed merger because, in order for it to go ahead, the OSC must waive an ownership cap that prohibits any single entity from owning more than 10% of the exchange group. Quebec’s securities regulator must make the same determination and it, too, plans to hold public hearings in July.
Quebec’s Premier Jean Charest, who was in New York on Tuesday, told Bloomberg News that he prefers a rival bid for TMX from a group of Canadian pensions and financial institutions. Mr. Charest said he prefers to keep the exchange group in Canadian hands, and wants to protect Quebec’s jobs and expertise.
The friendly merger proposed by TMX and the London exchange group must also win approval from Canada’s federal government under the terms of the Investment Canada Act. Last year, a hostile bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan by BHP Billiton was blocked under the terms of the act.
The rare rejection followed an active campaign by Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
The rival bid for TMX by Maple Group — a consortium of 13 Canadian pensions and financial institutions — also faces regulatory scrutiny. That proposed transaction is conditional on receiving clearance from the federal Competition Bureau to combine TMX operations with rival trading firm Alpha Group and with CDS Ltd., a securities clearing operation.
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