TSX clears Onex to buy back up to 8.6 million shares

(Reuters) - Private equity firm Onex Corp said the Toronto Stock Exchange had approved its program to buy back up to 8.6 million shares over the next 12 months. The buyback is valued at about C$523 million ($477 million) at the current trading price of C$60.63. Onex had spent about C$82.7 million as part of its current buyback program as of March 31. The program ends on Tuesday. The latest program will commence on April 16. Onex, which manages about $19 billion in assets, has a market value of about C$6.73 billion. Onex and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said earlier this month they would sell industrial conglomerate Gates Corp to private equity firm Blackstone Group LP for $5.4 billion. (Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)