The first day of Ontario's hearings on the proposed TMX Group Inc.-London Stock Exchange Group Plc combination will feature a little bit of everything.
The top executives from TMX and LSE will be there, as will the competition from alternative trading system Alpha, a mining company that trades on the TSX Venture Exchange and a venture capitalist, according to an agenda released Tuesday.
The pitch from TMX and LSE is likely to mirror what they have already said -- that this will create a global mining listings hub by adding London to Toronto, and that the combination will enable investors to tap bigger pools of capital and raise funds at more attractive prices.
So it will be interesting to hear from the mining executive, Frank Smeenk of junior resource company KWG Resources, on whether he believes that it will be a good thing for his company to bring together TMX and LSE.
The venture capitalist, Mark McQueen of Wellington Financial, will be able to address the potential implications for smaller companies that make up much of Canada's capital markets activities. To get a preview of what he's been saying, one needs only to look at his blog where he's been actively laying out his evolving views.
Here's the full line-up:
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Committee Room 151 , Queen's Park
12:00 p.m.
TMX Group Inc. / London Stock Exchange Group plc
Thomas Kloet, chief executive officer, TMX Group
Xavier Rolet, chief executive officer, London Stock Exchange Group
Michael Ptasznik, chief financial officer, TMX Group
2:00 p.m.
KWG Resources Inc.
Frank Smeenk, president
2:20 p.m.
Alpha Group
Jean Jean-Guy Brunelle, chairman of the board
Jos Schmitt, chief executive officer
Randee Pavalow, head of business operations and legal
2:40 p.m.
Wellington Financial
Mark McQueen, president and chief executive officer