The Toronto Stock Exchange has amended its policy on normal course issuer bids and debt substantial issuer bids.

In a notice, the TSX reports that it has adopted, and the Ontario Securities Commission has approved, amendments to the TSX issuer bid policy. The final amendments will be effective on June 1.

The amendments represent the majority of the final portion of the policy amendments to certain parts of the TSX company manual, which were originally published for comment on Aug. 2, 2002 and Jan. 2, 2004, and in final form on Nov. 5, 2004. The bulk of those amendments were effective Jan. 1, 2005, but these latest amendments were separated and published for further comment.

The notice says that the amendments do not include a proposed section that contains the rules relating to the use of derivatives and accelerated buy backs in connection with normal course issuer bids. The bulk of the comments received by the TSX during the last comment period related primarily to this section, and as a result, it has decided to postpone the implementation of this section.

The fundamental objectives of the issuer bids policies are to provide issuers with the ability to buy back their own securities in a cost effective way that treats public security holders fairly while not adversely impacting the market, the exchange notes. “In an attempt to balance these objectives, TSX has considered, among other things, the variances in liquidity, public float, distribution and market capitalization of TSX listed issuers,” it says.

The TSX reports that it received a total of 10 comment letters in response to the latest publication. Apart from deleting the section relating to derivatives and accelerated buy backs, it has made other non-material changes based on both the public comments and the OSC’s comments.