Desmond Lee, Michael Innes
Jul 11, 2019
The Financial Post has announced its league table results for the first half of 2019 and Osler was ranked #1 as legal counsel to both issuers and underwriters for combined equity and debt offerings by value. Osler advised issuers on 24 completed transactions valued at $16.9 billion. Osler also advised the underwriters on 20 equity and debt offerings that raised $7.6 billion in total.
In an article about the rankings, author Julius Melnitzer reports that trade tensions and prospects of higher interest rates put pressure on issuer activity in the first half of 2019; however, the outlook for the second half is brighter due to receding worries about tight monetary policy.
According to the Financial Post, overall “corporate and government debt and equity deal count, at 516, was off 12.7 per cent compared to the first half of 2018. Volume, however, fared better, with the $215.1 billion in issuances up just 4.1 per cent over the previous year.”
“We’re still seeing a lack of desire to do large acquisition transactions that require extra capital, something that has impacted both debt and equity issuance activity,” Desmond Lee, Co-Chair of Osler’s Capital Markets practice, tells the Financial Post.
“Weakness in key sectors like energy and utilities is by itself enough to have an impact on overall deal counts, perhaps more so than political, trade or economic issues. And other industry sectors, including cannabis, haven’t really made up the difference so far this year,” says Desmond, who notes that there have been more deals in the mining sector in 2019. “That’s a bright spot that sometimes gets overlooked,” he says. “And if gold prices keep rising, it could help drive some additional capital-raising activity in the mining space.”
Read the full article and see all the tables here.
With offices in Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver and New York, Osler is consistently recognized as one of Canada’s leading capital markets firms. Our clients include major Canadian corporations, well-known multinationals, entrepreneurial and growth-oriented businesses and Canadian and global investment banks engaged in capital markets activities in Canada, the United States and internationally.