Canadian new issue activity rose on the equity side in 2014, but retreated a bit for debt markets, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.
A new report from the firm says that Canadian equity & equity-related issuance reached $37.3 billion in 2014, from 356 deals. Compared with 2013, total proceeds were up by 9.5%; although, in the fourth quarter, proceeds were down 65.7% from the third quarter of 2014.
The vast majority of new issues were secondary offerings. In 2014, they accounted for $31.3 billion in proceeds from 316 deals, which is up by 14.7% from last year. Issuance of preferred securities doubled from 2013, whereas retail structured product issuance declined by 7.4% from last year.
The energy & power sector generated overall equity proceeds of $17.1 billion during the year, representing almost half of the market (45.9%). The financial sector was a distant second place, with an 18.1% share ($6.8 billion in new issuance). And, materials ranked third, with a 12.8% market share.
Thomson Reuters reports that the top equity underwriter for the year was Scotia Capital Markets, which ranked first in the league tables for Canadian equity & equity-related, common stock & trust, and secondary offerings. CIBC World Markets ranked first in retail structured products and in initial public offerings (IPOs), and TD Securities (TDSI) ranked first in the preferred securities niche.
On the debt side, overall issuance was down by about 6.0% from last year; totaling $166.6 billion for 2014. Debt issuance also declined quarter over quarter in the fourth quarter, dropping by 26.7% from the third quarter.
Government and agency debt accounted for more than half of the issuance activity during the year (53%). The financial sector represented a 29% market share, and energy & power ranked third with an 8% share.
RBC Capital Markets ranked first among the debt underwriters for 2014, leading in both the Canadian all debt rankings and the domestic corporate debt rankings. National Bank led the Canadian government debt league tables, Bank of America Merrill Lynch placed first in Canadian cross border issuance, and TDSI was first in corporate Maple debt issuance.