Canadian debt issuance is holding up so far this year, but equity issuance has plunged, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.

The firm reports that Canadian equity and equity-related issuance totaled $23.1 billion from 367 issues during the first three quarters of 2010, representing a 35.4% decrease in total proceeds from the same period in 2009.

However, total Canadian debt issuance in the first three quarters of 2010, excluding self-funded transactions, was $113.8 billion from 259 deals, representing an increase of 1.4% year over year. The gain in debt issuance was driven by the corporate side, as 113 Canadian corporate issues raised $39.9 billion, up 10.6% over the first nine months of 2009. Government debt issuance was down 5.8% over the same period to $71.1 billion.

However, in the third quarter, government debt issuance was more or less unchanged from the previous quarter, whereas corporate debt issuance saw a sequential decline of 7.4%. And, government remains the biggest debt issuer, at about 56% of all transaction value. Financials and the energy & power sectors were the next most active, with 32% and 6% of the market, respectively.

On the equity side, the energy & power sector was the most active in the first nine months, with $8.6 billion of issuance (38% market share), followed by materials ($5.9 billion, 26% market share), and real estate ($2.8 billion, 13% share).

While overall equity issuance is off sharply, initial public offerings have revived a bit from last year’s depressed levels. IPO proceeds reached $4.7 billion in the first nine months of 2010, up almost 200% from the previous year.

GMP Securities remains the top equity bookrunner for the year-to-date period, with $2.7 billion from 37 deals, Thomson Reuters reports. BMO Capital Markets led the third quarter however, pushing it into second place for the year so far, with CIBC World Markets ranking third.

RBC Capital Markets dominates the debt markets, leading the league tables both for the quarter and the year to date (boasting a 24.5% market share). It is followed by TD Securities and CIBC.

IE