People Mentioned
Partner, Corporate, Toronto
This month, Google’s parent company Alphabet raised $8.5 billion in the largest “maple bond” ever issued, marking an increasing trend of foreign corporations entering the country’s debt market. Maple bonds — corporate bonds issued in Canadian dollars by non-Canadian companies — have already broken records in 2026, not even halfway through the year. This boom has been driven largely by the country’s comparatively low interest rates, favourable currency exchange rates and the 2025 introduction of maple bonds into the FTSE Canada Universe Bond Index, which gave companies access to a brand new, expanded pool of potential investors.
But Rosalind Hunter, Co-Chair of Osler’s Capital Markets practice, points out that if and when those factors change, foreign companies will likely seek other markets, as well.
“When the cost advantage disappears then the issuances will drop off,” she tells The Globe and Mail.
“It is really while issuers can get an all-in funding cost that is less than what they might get in another market that we will continue to see it. It is a very cyclical type of issuance that will fall away when those global market factors change.”
Osler acted for the underwriters in Alphabet’s offering.
If you have a subscription, you can read the full article, “Behind Alphabet’s record-breaking Canadian bond deal,” on The Globe and Mail’s website.
People Mentioned
Partner, Corporate, Toronto
