The initial public offering (IPO) market in Canada totaled $2.2 billion in 2018, less than half the level seen in 2017, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The firm says in all of 2018, there were 54 new equity issues on four exchanges that generated a total of $2.2 billion. That compared with $5.1 billion generated from 37 IPOs in 2017.
The largest IPO of 2018 in Canada was the $462 million Ceridian HCM Holding issue in the second quarter of the year. It was followed by MAV Beauty Brands with $241 million and AltaGas at $239 million.
Dean Braunsteiner, national IPO leader at PwC Canada, said in a statement that while cannabis firms grabbed the news headlines in 2018, a surge of activity on the Canadian Securities Exchange and a return of junior mining companies to the markets were also notable developments during 2018.
