A Bay street sign is seen in Toronto’s financial district.Mark Blinch/The Globe and Mail
Liquidation: Like so many fallen companies, it was debt that sank Carillion PLC, the giant British construction concern that employs 6,000 Canadians. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Lawsuit: Canada's six biggest banks are facing a lawsuit filed with a New York court that alleges they conspired with three other global banking giants to rig a Canadian interest-rate benchmark and boost profits. Story (James Bradshaw, for subscribers)
DEAL WRAP
Pot deal: Shares of licensed marijuana producer Aphria Inc. surged more than 20 per cent Monday on news of a deal to buy B.C. based Broken Coast Cannabis Inc., a transaction it valued at $230-million in cash and stock. Story
Canadian venture watch: Alyssa Furtado, co-founder of the financial-technology company Ratehub Inc., strode with confidence on to the set of the CBC's Dragons' Den in mid-2016. Ratehub's growth was surging. Ms. Furtado offered the Dragons a tenth of the company: "Today I'm asking for a million dollars." Story (Dave Ebner)
Private acquisition: 9 Story Media Group Inc., a portfolio company of ZelnickMedia, has acquired Out of the Blue Enterprises. Private Capital Journal
FINANCIAL SERVICES WRAP
Woodward: Regulators have imposed a lifetime ban on a former Calgary stockbroker at the centre of a mountain of legal action and fined him $500,000 for plowing money into risky stocks on behalf of dozens of clients, regardless of their tolerance for big losses. Story (Jeff Jones, for subscribers)
WHAT WE'RE READING ELSEWHERE
Pounding the table for attention: Dennis Ip knows no matter how good his stock calls are, it's hard to stand out among a sea of analysts. So he turned to K-pop. Bloomberg
Euro venture watch: According to the Dow Jones VentureSource's 4Q'17 Europe Venture Capital released today, European startups raised $17.52-billion (U.S.) in 2017, up from $13.81-billion in 2016. The previous year had seen a 20.5 per cent drop from the $17.38-billion raised in 2015. VentureBeat
Round and round again: Leveraged buyouts – acquisitions made through debt rather than equity – were the "hottest financing game going" in 1986, when Institutional Investor's November cover story asked, "LBOs: How long can this go on?" It's a question investors are pondering once again. Institutional Investor
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
"Maybe people will have more of an empathetic ear to other leaders out in the business community." : He was the exemplar of a new generation of Alberta entrepreneurs. He built an investment bank from nothing – earning huge wealth, acclaim and the ear of Justin Trudeau. But beneath the veneer of business success, there was another side to George Gosbee – one of mental illness and alcoholism. The family he left behind tells their story. Story (Kelly Cryderman, for subscribers)