Canadian equity and debt capital market issuance both dropped notably in the first half of the year, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.
For the first half, Canadian equity and equity-related issuance totaled $16.8 billion from 211 issues, the firm reported. This is a 12.4% decrease in total proceeds from the same period in 2011.
Canadian equity issuance was particularly weak in the second quarter, dropping by 50% from the previous quarter, making it the weakest quarter since the height of the financial crisis in 2008. In the second quarter, total issuance reached just $5.4 billion, which was the smallest total since the third quarter of 2008, Thomson Reuters said.
TD Securities ranked as the top overall bookrunner for the quarter, with $1.2 billion from 10 deals (a 23.0% market share by proceeds). RBC Capital Markets and Scotia Capital rounded out the top three, with a 15.1% and a 10.6% market share, respectively.
By sector, the energy & power sector raised the greatest proceeds in the first half, with $6.6 billion, representing 40% of total issuance. Real estate had an 18% share, followed by materials and financials, with 15% and 12% shares, respectively.
In the first half, Scotia Capital led the secondary offerings league table, with a 20% share. It was followed by TD Securities and RBC Capital Markets, which both took a 14% share. Scotia also led the preferred share market, working on 18 deals, worth $1.7 billion in the first half. RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities ranked second and third, respectively. RBC Capital Markets, CIBC World Markets, and Morgan Stanley dominated the retail structured products ranking, with market shares of 41.8%, 23.6% and 12.4%, respectively in the first half.
Overall debt capital market issuance also dropped in the first half, Thomson Reuters reported. It said that Canadian debt issuance in the first half, excluding self-funded transactions, reached $80.8 billion from 170 deals. This represents a decrease in proceeds of 14.3% from the same period last year.
Canadian domestic corporate issuance totaled $27.0 billion from 69 issues, which is down 25.9% from the same period last year. Total government debt issuance reached $52.4 billion from 98 issues in the first half, down 4.5% from the same period in 2011.
Governments accounted for over half of the issuance (53%), and the financial and energy & power sectors ranked second and third, with 32%, and 6%, of the market, respectively.
RBC Capital Markets was the top overall debt underwriter in the first half, with a 25.7% market share; followed by National Bank Financial and TD Securities. RBC also ranked first in domestic corporate underwriting, followed by BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities.