Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) logo is seen at a branch in Toronto.Reuters
RBC Dominion Securities was the lead in the most corporate bond deals in Canada in 2011, helping companies sell $16-billion of bonds.
The firm was lead underwriter on 61 transactions, according to Thomson Reuters, or more than one third of all the corporate bond sales in Canada last year. Second place went to TD Securities, which helped companies sell $10.3-billion and BMO Nesbitt Burns was third with $7.6-billion.
While the market in general was a bit slower -- overall sales dropped to $52-billion from $61-billion, there were some bright spots in 2011. The most significant was the further development of a Canadian high yield market. The number of high yield transactions increased, as did the number of buyers, signalling a more robust and sustainable market.
The turmoil caused by the European debt crisis kept high yield issuance from reaching the general expectation of $5-billion of total sales, but there's every likelihood that the market will get there this year as more companies and buyers get comfortable with the idea.
Here's a rundown on the top five corporate bond underwriters in Canada last year:
(All figures courtesy of Thomson Reuters, and denominated in Canadian dollars.)
1.RBC Dominion Securities Value of deals underwritten: $16-billion Number of deals underwritten: 61 Value of 2010 deals: $16.6 Number of 2010 deals: 67
2. TD Securities Value of deals underwritten: $10.3-billion Number of deals underwritten: 45 Value of 2010 deals: $10.5-billion Number of 2010 deals: 47
3. BMO Nesbitt Burns Value of deals underwritten: $7.6-billion Number of deals underwritten: 29 Value of 2010 deals: $7.1-billion Number of 2010 deals: 25
4. CIBC World Markets Value of deals underwritten: $7.2-billion Number of deals underwritten: 42 Value of 2010 deals: $9.4-billion Number of 2010 deals: 45
5. Scotia Capital Value of deals underwritten: $6.2-billion Number of deals underwritten: 30 Value of 2010 deals: $9-billion Number of 2010 deals: 34