23 April 2007

TD Securities Leads in Q1 2007 Stock Offerings

  
The Globe and Mail, Boyd Erman, 23 April 2007

Buoyed by key roles in the two biggest Canadian stock sales of the quarter, TD Securities Inc. finished the first three months of 2007 atop the rankings for underwriting new share offerings.

TD led or co-led 16 offerings worth $2-billion in the January-March period, beating out CIBC World Markets Inc.'s total of 17 deals worth $1.66-billion, according to figures compiled by Thomson Financial.

With the income trust market disappearing, the quarter was dominated by big common-share deals for utilities that were buying new assets. TransCanada Corp. raised $1.7-billion to fund the purchase of a pipeline from El Paso Corp., and Fortis Inc. sold $1.1-billion of stock to pay for the acquisition of a gas system in British Columbia.

TD, which has been working to beef up its investment banking division in recent years, is starting to see that effort pay off with roles on such large transactions.

"We've had some big wins early in the year as the result of a lot of hard work over the past few years," said Sante Corona, of the equity capital markets department at TD Securities.

Canaccord Capital Inc. vaulted into third place, jumping ahead of big-name banks such as fourth-ranked RBC Capital Markets, on the strength of 31 deals worth $1.52-billion, according to Thomson. Canaccord's biggest deal was raising $326-million for GPJ Ventures Ltd., now called Peak Gold.

"We're pretty pleased this quarter that our success was across all our key sectors," said Mark Maybank, Canaccord's chief operating officer and the deputy head of its CanaccordAdams securities and investment banking operations.

With income trust activity cooling in the wake of the federal government's decision to tax trusts more heavily, the outlook for the stock-sale business is uncertain. Investment bankers said that the "pipeline" of new deals is not bulging as it has in past years.

Still, with mergers and acquisitions activity still hot, stock sales to raise money for purchases may keep bankers busy.

TD finds a pipeline to deal making in the frst quarter, with its role in major common share offerings for TransCanada and Fortis.
RankBankProceedsMarket shareIssues
1TD Securities Inc.2,009.714.416
2CIBC World Markets Inc.1,658.611.917
3Canaccord Capital Inc.1,516.910.931
4RBC Capital Markets1,332.79.69
5BMO Capital Markets1,248.29.011

Source: Thomson Financial

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