Founded in 1996 Equicom provides services to approximately 100 public issuers and employs 60 staff in offices in Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. TSX says Equicom's revenue was in excess of $13 million for the last fiscal year and the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive for its own earnings.

The acquisition is aimed at providing new services to Canadian public issuers, says TSX. The exchange is currently working with Equicom on an initiative called On the Radar, which is a monthly showcase providing TSX and TSX Venture Exchange issuers with the opportunity to present their stories to investors in Canada's main financial centres Toronto and Montreal.

Commenting on the acquisition, Richard Nadeau, SVP, Toronto Stock Exchange, says it is vital that issuers obtain high quality investor relations and communications services.

"Assisting issuers to embrace best practices in communications, it will result in better information transparency, more efficient market evaluation of issuers and thus better capital markets for issuers and investors alike," says Nadeau. "This acquisition fits perfectly with our strategy of expanding our service offerings and adding value to issuer relationships."

Following the closing of the transaction, Equicom will operate as a separate wholly-owned subsidiary of TSX Group.

Last year Nasdaq acquired Shareholder.com, a Massachusetts-based provider of shareholder communications and investor relations services to over 1000 clients.

Nasdaq said the acquisition would enable it to provide investor relations and other services to its 3200 listed companies and other publicly held firms, supplementing the consulting and investor services provided by its corporate client group.