(Reuters) - Private equity firm Onex Corp (>> ONEX Corporation) 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 (>> The Blackstone Group L.P.) for $5.4 billion.

(Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)

Stocks treated in this article : The Blackstone Group L.P., ONEX Corporation