Weil, Gotshal & Manges represents the Maple Group Acquisition Corp., a consortium of Canadian financial institutions, broker-dealers, and investment funds, in its $3.7 billion hostile takeover bid for TMX Group Inc., the owner and operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada’s largest stock exchange. The bid, launched today, offers C$48 per share for 70 percent of TMX’s outstanding shares. The deal would also include a court-approved plan that would give unaffiliated shareholders 40% of Maple shares in exchange for their remaining TMX stock.

The proposed takeover comes in the face of an earlier friendly bid for TMX made by the London Stock Exchange (LSE). TMX shareholders vote on the LSE-TMX deal on June 30.

The Maple Group comprises some of the largest financial industry organizations in Canada, including Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, and Toronto Dominion Bank, and pension funds 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. The Maple Group added Desjardins Financial Group, GMP Capital Inc, Dundee Capital Markets and Manulife Financial just prior to launching its official bid.

The Weil team is led by partner Michael Aiello and includes partners Ellen Odoner, Peter King, and Helyn Goldstein and associates Eoghan Keenan, Gavin Westerman, and Jonathan Algor.