Canadian equity issuance has surged this year on the strength of robust markets, but debt issuance is flat so far, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.
In a new report, the firm says that Canadian equity & equity-related new issuance totaled $33.2 billion, from 301 new issues, for the first nine months of 2014. This represents a 53.5% increase in total proceeds from the same period in 2013. And, third quarter proceeds were up 34% from the second quarter of 2014, it notes.
Almost half of the new issue activity has come in the energy & power sector, Thomson Reuters reports. It says that the sector has generated overall equity proceeds of $15.7 billion in the first nine months, which amounts to 47.5% of overall new issuance. Financials are running a distant second, with 19.4% of total issuance ($6.4 billion in proceeds), and the materials sector ranks third, accounting for 11.2% of the market.
Most of the action, $28.3 billion worth from 267 deals, came in secondary offerings. Thomson Reuters says this represents a 72.9% increase from the same period last year. Preferred share issuance totaled $9.5 billion, up 97.3% from 2013; yet, retail structured products were down 3% to $2.9 billion, it reports.
The top underwriter so far this year is Scotia Capital, according to the report, which says that Scotia ranked number one in the Canadian equity & equity-related, Canadian common stock, and Canadian secondary offerings. It led a $1.8 billion offering from Manulife Financial, which was the largest deal in the third quarter.
The report also notes that CIBC World Markets ranked first in retail structured products and in initial public offerings (IPOs), powered by PrairieSky Royalty’s $1.7 billion IPO. And, RBC Capital Markets ranked first in Canadian preferred securities.
On the debt side, overall issuance was essentially flat through the first nine months of the year at $127.6 billion. In the third quarter, issuance rose 1.1% from the second quarter. Government and agency debt continued to lead the way, accounting for 52% of overall issuance, Thomson Reuters says; followed by financials and the energy sector, with 29% and 7% market shares, respectively.
RBC Capital Markets led the underwriting league tables in debt, as it placed first in both the Canadian all debt tables and both domestic corporate debt tables, the report says. TD Securities ranked first in Canadian government debt, Bank of America Merrill Lynch was tops in Canadian cross-border issuance, and Scotia placed first in the corporate Maple debt rankings.