On Wednesday the London Stock Exchange was rejected to purchase its Toronto counterpart for C$3.6 billion ($3.7 billion) which left the UK exchange open to takeover itself.

The LSE’s bid was overshadowed by the C$3.8 billion offer from the Maple Group consortium. The offering was strongly supported by the most influential Canadian banks who opposed the foreign intervention.

"This is a group of Canadians, businesses that came together and have asserted themselves," said Dwight Duncan, the province of Ontario's finance minister and an early opponent of the LSE deal.

"While the failed deal probably puts an end to TMX's M&A ambitions, other exchange operators will likely continue to look for partners. This reinforces my belief that we should expect more mergers, not less," said Ed Ditmire, New York-based analyst for Macquarie Securities.

"It would not surprise me to see Nasdaq and LSE talking," said Jamie Selway, New York-based market structure expert and managing director of strategy at investment Technology Group.