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A Canadian consortium of banks and pension funds has taken its $3.8 billion (C$3.7 billion) takeover offer directly to TMX Group shareholders, touting the proposal as the best way to keep the country's exchanges out of foreign hands.
Maple Group Acquisition Corp launched the hostile bid on Monday through a takeover circular that outlines an alternative to London Stock Exchange Group's friendly $3.5 billion bid for TMX, the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Maple's formal offer is nearly identical to a preliminary proposal unveiled nearly a month ago, except Maple now will buy up to 70 percent of TMX shares, up from 60 percent originally. But the offer price of C$48 a share in cash is the same.
Even so, TMX's stock rose about 1 percent on Monday, signaling some shareholders liked the overall proposal.
"Now that the Maple bid is out and they've improved it, but not really sweetened it, I think the TMX stock is already responding," said Chris Damas an independent analyst who owns a sizable number of TMX shares. He says he now favors the Maple offer, given the information presented so far, but he would still like to see a higher price.
Maple Group Acquisition Corp launched the hostile bid on Monday through a takeover circular that outlines an alternative to London Stock Exchange Group's friendly $3.5 billion bid for TMX, the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Maple's formal offer is nearly identical to a preliminary proposal unveiled nearly a month ago, except Maple now will buy up to 70 percent of TMX shares, up from 60 percent originally. But the offer price of C$48 a share in cash is the same.
Even so, TMX's stock rose about 1 percent on Monday, signaling some shareholders liked the overall proposal.
"Now that the Maple bid is out and they've improved it, but not really sweetened it, I think the TMX stock is already responding," said Chris Damas an independent analyst who owns a sizable number of TMX shares. He says he now favors the Maple offer, given the information presented so far, but he would still like to see a higher price.
