AnalytixInsight

We wish you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021. Canadian capital markets were relatively quiet this past holiday week, following a busier than usual December, we expect activity to pick up in January, with a focus on technology, which appears to have more robust activity in the past few months. As expected, heightened activity also benefited global investment banking, according to Refinitiv. In the near term, we expect headlines pertaining to NYSE – China telco delisting and Bitcoin momentum to dominate.

Thank you for your support through 2020, we hope you and your loved ones are enjoying a restful holiday season. Canadian fundraising activity understandably slowed this past week, M&A activity remained robust. As Bitcoin enjoys a revival these past few weeks, we would expect to see heightened capital markets activity in 2021. In the USA, most of the news in the past week focused on SPACs. We would also keep an eye out for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the NYSE’s “direct” listing plan, which could allow companies to raise capital in direct listings.

This past week, we saw multiple successful Canadian tech company public market debuts, including Sophic Client Luckbox (LUCK-TXSV), Emerge Commerce (ECOM-TSXV) and WeCommerce (WE-TSXV). While in the USA, ContextLogic (WISH-NASDAQ) was down 16% on its IPO. That said, recent tech IPOs and strong tech stock performance has left experts scratching their heads and led to the introduction of new structured products. At the same time, the potential IPO, SPAC list continues to grow, with listings expected by Poshmark, Bumble, UiPath, Coinbase, Playtika, Tokopedia, indie Semiconductor.