Exempt market investing surged in New Brunswick in 2012, but venture capital activity slumped. That’s according to a new report from the province’s Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCSC).
The report indicates the extent to which a handful of large deals can skew overall results in a relatively small market. For example, the report shows that exempt market activity soared to over $300 million in 2012 from $25 million in 2011, however, the vast majority of this is due to a single $257.6 million deal in the energy sector.
“As we have noted in prior years, our capital markets are greatly influenced by individual, large-scale projects,” said said Rick Hancox, chief executive officer of the commission.
In New Brunswick’s venture markets, deal activity ticked up, from 16 deals in 2011 to 23 deals last year; but the value of those deals dropped to $21.15 million in 2011 to $8.2 million last year. The report notes that New Brunswick-based companies have fallen behind similar provinces in the amount of VC funding they have been able to attract. It reports that Saskatchewan raised over $53 million, Nova Scotia raised $37 million, and Manitoba raised $31 million.
“We note that in Canada VC investment is occurring in many industry sectors yet New Brunswick is lagging in all sectors with the exception of [information technology],” it says. Indeed, it notes that 18 of the 23 VC deals completed during the year were in the tech sector.
“The former New Brunswick Securities Commission established its Fullsail initiative to help foster capital markets,” said Hancox. “Educating and informing capital markets stakeholders will continue to be a priority of the Financial and Consumer Services Commission.”
The report also looks at merger & acquisition activity in the province for the first time. It found that, in 2012, there were 19 M&A deals worth $215.98 million that involved New Brunswick-based companies; which was a sharp drop from 2011 when there was $533.87 million in deals completed.