Montréal Exchange listing without offering in 2007

The Montréal Exchange has announced it will list its shares without an offering in March or April next year.

Luc Bertrand, its president and chief executive, said: “The board’s decision to list the shares was based fundamentally on the recognition of the level of maturity attained by the organisation.” He said the exchange already generated sufficient funds, but the listing would “simplify questions about [its] value, and clearly establish its public status”.

The exchange was founded in 1874 and demutualised in 2000. Under an agreement with the Toronto Exchange in 1999, it shed its equity business in return for non-competition in derivatives. However, the Ontario-based bourse has made public its intention to compete in the market once that pact expires in 2009.

Last year the Montréal Exchange reported net earnings of C$15.1 million ($13 million). It is the main shareholder and technology provider of the Boston Options Exchange, and also runs its own clearing house, the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation.