Skip to main content
streetwise

Porter Air at the Toronto Island Airport.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail

Initial public offerings are big news with Zipcar and Glencore International coming to market -- so who's coming to market soon in Canada?

There are a few names on the drawing board at banks, many with a familiar ring for investors, that could provide some big IPOs for Canadian investors.

Here's five that are top of mind:

Hudson's Bay Co., the retailer, may attempt a return to public markets, while Porter Aviation may make another attempt at going public for the first time. Element Financial, the new leasing firm started by Steve Hudson, is planning to go public by early 2012. In the oil patch, Laracina Energy is a candidate, as is Sunshine Oilsands.

Where do they stand?

Hudson's Bay

The retailer has answered one of the big questions for investors, which has long been "What are you going to do with Zellers?" The main Bay stores are apparently performing quite well, but Zellers is viewed as a millstone, especially with competitors like Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Now, with Target Corp. paying to take over most of Zellers, HBC and owner Richard Baker have a good answer. That's raised expectations that Mr. Baker, who bought HBC three years ago, might try to take the rest of the Bay public. Bankers say there's a lot of chatter about the Bay, and an expectation that an IPO could come this year.

Porter Aviation

Porter tried to launch an IPO in 2010 but was forced to pull it in summer after the market response, especially from institutional investors, was weak. But markets are stronger in 2011, and so is the economy. As a result, Porter has been mulling the idea once again.

The trick will be overcoming the long memories of investors who, having heard the story once already and passed, will be a tougher sell than if they were coming to it afresh. Oil prices could also be a wildcard, as they raise costs for airlines.

Element Financial

Element is the new leasing venture headed by Steven Hudson, who investors will remember from his days at Newcourt Credit Group. He started Newcourt and sold it for a big gain (though not without some rocky days near the end). Element is planning an initial public offering in the next nine months. The company is well funded, having just done a $75-million private placement, but has committed to going public.

Laracina Energy

Laracina is one of the big oil sands plays that has yet to come to market, but plans to do so. Laracina's strategy has been to get far down the development curve before launching an IPO. It has the luxury of big, well-funded backers like Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which put $250-million into the company last year, and it could probably continue to do private placements.

However, things are firming up should it want to tap the public markets, with oil prices high and the company's Saleski project up and running and now looking to expand.

Sunshine Oilsands

This is an IPO from the Canadian oil sands with a twist: Sunshine has deep ties to China and plans to list in Hong Kong. The attraction of that market, bankers say, is the juicy valuations that companies get in the hot Asian IPO market. However, the risk is that after the IPO the stock will be an orphan with no peers trading in Hong Kong and little in the way of analyst coverage. It will be an interesting litmus test.

However, if it chooses to tap the market, there's a good story to be told.

Report an editorial error

Report a technical issue

Editorial code of conduct

Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 7:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
TGT-N
Target Corp
+1.45%177.21
WMT-N
Walmart Inc
-0.91%60.17

Interact with The Globe