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(July 3, 2008) Nearly a year after the markets started going haywire, the effects of the credit crunch are still being felt, especially in Canada’s IPO market.

A new survey released by PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals that in the second quarter of 2008, the number of new public offerings in the country hit an all time low. Canadian exchanges saw just 18 issues in total between April 1 and June 30th, taking in $466 million in new equity. That’s down from 20 IPOs valued at $555 million from the same time last year.

On the TSX itself, the industry saw seven new issues worth $434 million, down slightly from eight IPOs at $453 million in Q2 2007.

“To put these results in context, the 2007 results were already among the lowest on record,” says Ross Sinclair, national leader of PwC’s IPO and income trust services.

In the first half of the year markets saw a total of 38 new issues, down from 41 in the first six months of 2007.

The survey reports that at this rate the market “will struggle to reach half the value of the slowest period of the decade.”

“The IPO market in Canada is in the centre of a perfect storm of negative factors that are pushing the market into record low territory,” says Sinclair. “To complete an offering in this market, you need a really compelling story – a quality company, a strong track record, flare and growth.”

The only company that has fit that description so far this year, says Sinclair was Sprott, which had an IPO of $200 million in April.

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Ontario and B.C. credit unions merge

(July 3, 2008) Ontario and B.C. might be thousands of KM apart, but that doesn’t mean its credit unions can’t work together. On Thursday, Credit Union Central of British Columbia revealed that it was merging with Credit Union Central of Ontario to form Central 1 Credit Union.

The new company will have more than $7.5 billion in assets and will provide liquidity management, payments, and internet and trade association services to it’s 196 members.

This merger is just the beginning for Canada’s credit unions. The plan is to incorporate all the unions across the country under the Central 1 banner.

“Our merger is now a reality and we’re ready to move forward,” says Daniel A. Burns chairman of Central 1. “We continue to see this as the first step toward a national financial services organization for credit unions.”

(07/03/08)