The Canadian market for initial public offerings nearly ground to a halt in the fourth quarter.
A survey by tax and business consultancy PwC says the value of Canadian IPOs for all of 2011 totalled just over $2 billion, making it among the worst years in the past decade.
Only 2008, when there were 57 issues for $700 million, and 2009, when there were 28 issues totalling $1.8 billion, have seen lower totals since 2001.
The PwC survey showed a single $25-million issue on the TSX in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, a reduction in activity on the TSX Venture Exchange generated just $52 million from 10 new issues on all Canadian exchanges in the final three months of 2011.
That compared with 31 IPOs generating $1.2 billion in new equity in the final quarter of 2010 and 73 in all of 2010 when the market generated $5.5 billion.