The Canadian initial public offerings (IPOs) market has seen total proceeds of $1.3 billion from all Canadian exchanges in the first half of 2013 – a jump of almost 500% from the $220 million raised in the same period last year.
In the second quarter alone, 13 new issues raised a total of $870 million. Real estate was the most active sector during this period, which saw four new issues of real estate investment trusts (REITs) worth $293 million – more than a third of the total of all new issues.
“Real estate is an area of stability and growth, something rare in a volatile market,” says PwC national IPO services leader Dean Braunsteiner.
“With more REITs in the pipeline, including a substantial issue coming from Loblaws, the real-estate sector has largely steered around the market volatility of the last few weeks.”
Mining IPOs remain “in a slump,” said Braunsteiner, due to depressed commodity prices.
The oil and gas sector saw a single transaction in Q2 – a $250 million new equity issue by Oryx Petroleum.
