Emera's $10.4 billion takeover of Teco Energy Inc. vaulted JPMorgan to the top adviser position.Stephane Daoust/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Recent market turmoil has not been enough to bring an end to the booming mergers-and-acquisitions market in Canada or abroad.
But as the country's investment banks continued to facilitate tie-ups through the first nine months of the year, new debt and equity financings have fallen from recent highs.
According to data from Thomson Reuters, the value of M&A deals involving a Canadian buyer or seller was up to $190.9-billion (U.S.) in the first three quarters of the year, compared with $149.8-billion last year, which was also considered to be high.
One blockbuster acquisition unsettled the rankings of top M&A investment banks in the third quarter. Emera Inc.'s $10.4-billion takeover, including debt, of Tampa-based Teco Energy Inc. vaulted JPMorgan to the top adviser position, with $44.9-billion in deals. RBC Dominion Securities and Morgan Stanley were close behind.
Around the world, deals continued to flow through the summer, even as the list of factors causing unstable markets continued to pile up. Threats of a "Grexit" and oil-price shocks were superseded by concerns over China's economic strength and plunging stock markets. Still, about $3-trillion in global M&A was announced in the first nine months of the year.
While the number of Canadian M&A deals dipped only a bit in September, the surge in large equity financings that powered Canadian markets in the first six months of the year appeared more muted through the third quarter.
The three months through to Sept. 30 added just $6-billion (Canadian) to the more than $30-billion investment bankers had already raised for companies in the earlier part of 2015.
The one significant exception to that was the largest equity financing of the year. It also stemmed from Emera's deal, with Scotia Capital leading the $2.1-billion financing.
New initial public offerings slowed through the summer season, a marked difference from the first part of the year, during which investors eagerly snapped up stakes in companies such as Shopify Inc. and Cara Operations Ltd., both of which are trading well above their offer prices.
More recent entrants to the Toronto Stock Exchange have not been big hits, and some are now trading below their offer price.
New bond issuance has fallen slightly from the high point of the past two years with $124.9-billion in proceeds recorded in the first nine months of the year, down from $127.6-billion at the same time last year. RBC, TD Securities and CIBC World Markets were the top three investment banks in debt sales, excluding self-led deals.
The declines in debt and equity capital markets during the first three quarters also follow global trends, Thompson Reuters data show. Global debt market activity is down 13 per cent over last year, equity market activity is down 5 per cent and IPOs have fallen by 35 per cent.