Equity issuance plummeted in the first half

By Staff | July 9, 2019 | Last updated on July 9, 2019
1 min read

This year, Canadian equity underwriters had their worst first half since before the financial crisis, according to new data from Refinitiv.

The market data firm reported that Canadian equity issuance in the first six months of 2019 reached just $11.6 billion, down by 33% from the same period a year ago.

In terms of deal value, that’s the worst start to a year since 2003, it noted.

The real estate sector led the way, raising $3.4 billion, which represented a 35% market share. It was followed by the energy & power sector and the healthcare sector, which had market shares of 20% and 12%, respectively.

Refinitiv reported that RBC Capital Markets was the top equity underwriter in the first half, followed by CIBC World Markets and TD Securities.

However, Canaccord Genuity led the way in initial public offerings (IPOs) and retail structured products, and RBC and TD were tied in underwriting preferred securities.

On the debt side, total issuance was also down in the first half, although it only declined by 4% from the same period last year to $91.5 billion.

Here, too, RBC led the way among the underwriters, topping the league tables in most categories, including all debt, domestic corporate debt and cross-border transactions.

National Bank Financial ranked first in domestic government debt (full credit).

Advisor.ca staff

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.