Canadian debt markets have been stronger so far this year, but issuance in equity markets was down through the first nine months of 2024, according to new data from LSEG Data & Analytics.
The firm reported that equity issuance to date totalled $11.6 billion, down 10% from the previous year. The volume of deals was down 17% from last year.
Issuers and investors favoured debt securities in the first nine months of the year, with total issuance up 39% year over year to $222.3 billion. Dent deal volume was up more modestly, rising 13%.
LSEG reported that government debt led the market, with $131.6 billion in new issue activity. Next was financials, which accounted for 19% of the deals, and then the energy and power sector at 13%.
For equities, the materials sector generated more than half of new issue activity (52.8%), followed by the energy sector (13.7%) and industrials sector (9.8%).
The leading underwriter in both the debt and equity league tables was RBC Capital Markets, according to LSEG’s rankings.
On the debt side, RBC was followed by TD Securities Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial Inc., in the overall rankings.
For equity dealmaking, BMO ranked second overall, followed by NBF, Scotiabank, and Bank of America Securities.
Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., ranked seventh overall in the results, led the in the retail structured products category.