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TORONTO, March 25 (Reuters) - TMX Group Ltd, theoperator of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX VentureExchange, said on Tuesday it plans to launch a new business toallow capital raising and the trading of securities of privatelyowned entities.
Toronto-based TMX said the new business dubbed TSX PrivateMarkets will serve companies throughout their evolution from thestart-up stage, and further down the road.
"Working with registered dealers, the launch of TSX PrivateMarkets will assist private companies in accessing capital inthe key early stages of their development," said Kevan Cowan,the president of TSX Markets and group head of equities at TMXGroup, in a statement.
The move to launch the business appears to be a pre-emptivegambit to thwart the threat posed by privately-held AequitasInnovations Inc, which is in the process of seeking regulatoryapproval in order to launch a new Canadian stock exchange.
Aequitas, which is being backed by Barclays Plc,BCE Inc, CI Financial Corp, IGM Financial Inc, OMERS Capital Markets and Royal Bank of Canada , among others, had last year outlined plans to alsolaunch a unique trading platform for private securities thatwould seek to allow for capital raising and liquidity for smalland mid-sized issuers.
The TSX Private Markets platform is expected to launch inthe third quarter of 2014, subject to final regulatory approval. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
