Equity issues increased nearly 19 percent last year to C$51.2 billion ($38.56 billion) from C$43.1 billion in 2015, the figures showed. That broke the previous high of C$49.4 billion in 2009.
The top six advisers for the year were Toronto Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Nova Scotia and National Bank of Canada.
The biggest transactions of the year were TransCanada's raising of C$4.4 billion and C$3.5 billion, respectively, in two deals to help fund its acquisition of Columbia Pipeline, and Suncor Energy's C$2.9 billion equity issue.
The trend of an increasing number of large deals spilled over from 2015 into 2016.
“If 2015 was the year of the big deals, this was the year of the mega deals,” said Peter Miller, head of Canadian equity capital markets at BMO Capital Markets.
The year also signaled a "reopening of the mining market," he added.
Mining transactions in the period included Franco-Nevada Corp’s C$1.3 billion capital raise and Silver Wheaton Corp’s C$820 million offering.
“Billion-dollar deals used to be a rarity. Now they're starting to come with regularity,” said Tyler Swan, head of execution, equity capital markets, at CIBC.
Initial public offerings were in short supply in 2016, with retailer Aritzia Inc's foray one of the few issues to hit the Canadian market last year.
“A rebound in IPOs will be the story of 2017,” Swan said. He sees initial public offerings in sectors such as technology, retail, energy and power.
(Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By John Tilak
