The Canadian market for initial public offerings (IPO) is again on the upswing. That is the conclusion of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as it published its quarterly study of IPOs for 2010. Three new issues on the TSX in the first quarter generated $442.7 million. Add to that the $1.35 billion IPO Athabasca Oil Sands is planning this month, and the total is more than was raised in all of 2009.
The activity for the first 100 days signals a significant reversal from the drought-like conditions of the past two years, according to Neil Manji, PwC national IPO services leader.
"What we're seeing is continued confidence for new equity offerings that began late last year. The past three months showed us the investor appetite for quality issues from the energy, mining, real estate and services sectors. The larger story, however, is the activity we see coming in the weeks and months ahead," he said. "This has every indication of being the start of something good."
Everyone in the mining sector will applaud a more buoyant investment outlook. Coupled with stability in the commodities markets, can we expect to see more development plans on the horizon?
Whether new mines are build in Canada or offshore depends on the relative political and regulatory consistency among various nations around the world as much as the quality of the resource. In an industry that is truly global, money raised in this country could be spent anywhere. Perhaps another time I will consider the pros and cons of spending money in the country in which it was raised.
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