Another sluggish quarter for Canadian IPOs

The Canadian initial public offering (IPO) market continued its struggles in the third quarter of 2019, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC Canada).

There were just nine IPOs on the Canadian market in the third quarter, which raised just $194 million, PwC Canada reported. And there were no IPOs on the TSX during Q3, marking the second straight quarter without a debut on the TSX.

In Q3, seven companies went public on the CSE, and one company launched on the TSX Venture Exchange. Six of the IPOs on the CSE were companies in the mining sector. The lone deal on the TSXV was also a mining company.

The deals were all relatively small — the vast majority of proceeds in Q3 were raised in a single deal that went to Nasdaq, accounting for $188 million of the Q3 deal value.

PwC said that this was “a continuation of the trend of Canadian companies listing on U.S. exchanges.”

By comparison, in Q3 last year, there were 12 deals, generating $792 million in IPO proceeds.

The weak Q3 continues a trend that has dogged the IPO market this year. Through the first nine months, there have been 31 IPOs in Canada, raising $646 million.

For the same period in 2018, the deal volume was about the same (32 deals), but those transactions raised much more money ($1.9 billion).

“Headline news items around global trade tensions and market volatility combined with summer doldrums led to a poor third quarter for IPOs,” said Geoff Leverton, national IPO leader at PwC Canada, “but there is also the role of alternative equity finance options for growing companies that can delay accessing public markets.”

“There are offerings in the pipeline, so we will see what the fourth quarter brings,” Leverton said. “It’s also interesting to watch U.S. IPO activity and the tepid reception some recent offerings are getting. We’ll see how that plays out over the coming quarters.”

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.