Canadian M&A Activity Rose 13% in 2017

Canadian mergers and acquisitions rose about 13 percent to C$120.5 billion ($93.2 billion) in the first half of 2017, driven by big-ticket energy deals and robust cross-border activity, according to Thomson Reuters data released on Thursday.

Despite strong initial public offerings, overall equity capital deals fell 12 percent to C$26.9 billion in the first half from a year ago, the data showed.

JPMorgan (JPM.N), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) took the top three spots in the M&A league tables rankings, while Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), TD and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) were the top three advisers on Canadian equity issues in the first half of 2017.

Canadian companies and pension funds have been seeking investment opportunities outside of Canada, and that is expected to keep M&A bankers busy in the second half.

“We see the financial buyers – the pension plans, asset managers – continually active outside of Canada,” said David Rawlings, head of JPMorgan Canada.

The two biggest energy deals of the year so far were Cenovus Energy Inc’s (CVE.TO) roughly C$16.8 billion acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ (COP.N) oil sands and natural gas assets and Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) sale of most of its Canadian oil sands assets for $8.5 billion.

via Reuters

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