The Canadian underwriting business is slumping this year, on both the debt and equity sides, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.

The firm reported on Monday that Canadian equity and equity-related issuance totaled $16.6 billion in the first half of 2010, down 23.6% from the first half of 2009. The initial public offering market remained a bright spot, generating proceeds of $3.3 billion in the first half of 2010, up by 112.7% compared with the same period last year; although IPO activity was down 19.6% in the second quarter from the prior quarter.

Overall, Canadian debt issuance held up a bit better than equity issuance. It slid just 6.6% from the first half of 2009 to the first half of this year, still totaling $76.9 billion over the period.

RBC Capital Markets led the way in both debt and equity underwriting for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data. On the equity side RBC was the top underwriter of equities overall, the top common stock underwriter, and top advisor in secondary offerings. GMP Capital Corp. was the leading IPO underwriter in the quarter, and is the leading equity underwriter for the first half, edging out RBC, with BMO Capital Markets taking third place.

On the debt side, RBC dominated the second quarter with a 27% market share. It was also the top debt underwriter for the first half, followed by TD Securities Inc. and National Bank Financial Inc.

While overall debt offerings were down for the first half, domestic corporate issues raised nearly $30 billion in the first six months of 2010, which represents a 12.6% increase over the first half of 2009, Thomson Reuters said. But this segment was down 5.8% from the prior quarter.

The weakness came primarily in government debt issuance, which was down 17.3% year over year to $45.6 billion. Still, the second quarter’s total of $25.4 billion, amounts to a 25.9% increase over the previous quarter.

Government issuance accounted for just over half of all transaction value on the debt side, with financials representing another 37%. The energy & power sector came a distant third at 7%. Conversely, the energy & power sector was the biggest source of deals on the equity side, with a 40% market share. Materials ranked second at 29%, followed by real estate at 11%.

IE