LSE rival Maple goes hostile in the fight for TMX Group
THE RIVAL bidder for the London Stock Exchange’s merger target, Toronto bourse operator TMX Group, has taken its approach for the Canadian group hostile.
The Maple consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds has put its C$3.7bn (£2.4bn) offer directly to TMX’s shareholders.
Maple is offering to buy 70 per cent of TMX for C$48 per share in cash.
The group would buy 70 per cent of TMX shares, before a process that would give TMX shareholders a 40 per cent stake in the new company.
The approach, circulated in a 166-page offer document yesterday, threatens to undermine the LSE’s C$3.5bn friendly merger.
Shareholders in TMX and the LSE are due to vote on 30 June on the agreed merger.
“Our offer provides superior value and greater certainty for TMX Group shareholders,” said Maple leader Luc Bertrand.
LSE chief Xavier Rolet said: “Nothing has changed, the $48 is a smokescreen, the only guarantee is $33 cash per share. If they manage to execute their new complicated structure, shareholders will be diluted down from $48 to $33 cash.”