The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that three years after Canada's largest stock exchange operator first embarked on a U.S. expansion plan, TMX Group is accelerating its American growth strategy. The Globe's Jameson Berkow writes that TMX announced an $800-million (U.S.) investment in New York-based MEMX and will merge its BOX equity options market with MEMX, creating a $2.3-billion (U.S.) entity, 59 per cent owned by TMX. TMX chief executive officer John McKenzie says: "This is a substantial building block for us. We shouldn't think about it any differently than when the Canadian banks make moves into the U.S. in terms of when they acquire, you know, regional banks or regional products. That's what we're building the capability to do." Once the deal closes in 2027, MEMX is projected to hold about 10 per cent of the U.S. equity options market and 2 per cent of the overall U.S. equities market. Mr. McKenzie says these figures are "our starting points, not our finish points." Since hiring Wall Street veteran Heidi Fischer as its first president of U.S. equity trading in September, 2023, TMX has shifted its focus to the U.S., making various investments and acquisitions to strengthen its presence there.