Quebec’s Autorite des marches financiers will examine possible insider trading in shares of Montreal Exchange before the derivatives exchange announced this week that it would be taken over by TSX Group, according to a report by the Globe and Mail.

Quebec’s finance minister, Monique Jerome-Forget, said at a news conference that the AMF was looking into whether certain MX directors who bought shares in the summer may have profited from knowledge of merger negotiations, the newspaper said.

Jerome-Forget said that she intends to begin hearings on the MX-TSX deal in February 2008, the newspaper reported.

On Monday, after months of market speculation and on-again, off-again talks, the two exchange operators said they had agreed to a friendly combination.

TSX Group, which runs the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, will offer 0.7784 of a TSX Group share, or $39.00 in cash, for each share of Montreal Exchange.