Canada debt issues set record, helped by maple bonds, M&A drops: Reuters

Canadian debt issuance climbed 12 percent to a record in the first nine months of 2017, helped by deals from Canada Housing Trust and a major maple bond from Apple, bucking a weak trend in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity deals as Canadian companies slowed the pace of their outbound deal-making, Reuters reported. Debt deal volumes rose to $140.5 billion in the period, while M&A and equity deals dropped more than a fifth, according to Thomson Reuters data released this week. High valuations and uncertainty surrounding U.S. regulations and trade policies held back Canadian buyers from acquiring overseas assets, bankers said. But the maple bond market, in which foreign companies sell Canadian dollar-denominated debt, attracted a slew of blue-chip companies.