More than a dozen Canadian companies were plucked out of public markets last year, new analysis shows, extending a spike in privatizations from 2024 in the wake of a continuing decline in the number of publicly listed businesses overall.
There were 38 delistings from the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2025, according to data from TSX parent TMX Group Ltd. Most of them were the result of public companies being purchased by other public companies, but 15 were delisted after having been taken private.
That number nearly matched the 16 privatizations of TSX-listed companies in 2024 and is dramatically higher than the handful of Canadian public companies that are taken private in a typical year.
Part of the reason privatizations are surging is simple serendipity, said John Ciardullo, managing partner of Stikeman Elliott LLP’s Toronto office, as many of the deals completed in 2024 and 2025 had been several years in the making. Another driver of the privatization trend is that the amount of money private investors have available to spend – known as dry powder – has recently started to decline from record highs as more of that cash is getting spent.
Globally, 2025 was the third-highest year ever for take-private activity in terms of both deal count and total deal value, according to a McKinsey & Company report. In Canada, 2025 was a record year in terms of total private equity dollars invested in privatizations, according to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, with $26.5-billion in total spent taking Canadian public companies private.
Increasing privatizations are emblematic of the broader decades-long global decline in the number of public companies overall – the number of operating businesses listed on the TSX is barely half what it was 20 years ago – but the trend is not necessarily a problem. Mr. Ciardullo said more privatizations are evidence that Canadian capital markets are working well.
“It is not like the old narrative in the 1990s or the early 2000s where people were super worried about the hollowing out of corporate Canada,” Mr. Ciardullo said. “This is stuff we very much think is good for Canada and is unlocking growth and freeing up companies to grow and build and do great things.”
Andrew Willis: Canadian IPO market could warm up in 2026 as Bay Street eyes U.S. debuts
Despite the declining number of issuers in the TSX, the total market value of the companies that remain in public markets has steadily risen. The combined market capitalization of TSX-listed companies grew by more than $1-trillion in 2025, representing a 26-per-cent increase in a single year.
“Probably every year we will have a couple less issuers than we did the year before,” said Rob Peterman, chief commercial officer of the TSX. “That is happening everywhere in the world, but the overall markets are growing and actually becoming more attractive to companies and to international investors.”
He added, “That is important for Canada. The bigger our capital markets are, the more liquid they are, the more they attract investors.”
The delistings data also show Canadian businesses remain attractive to buyers in the United States despite continuing political tensions between the two neighbouring countries. Nearly one third – 12 out of 38 – of the buyers that purchased Canadian public companies in 2025 were American.
Michael Kilby, head of the competition and foreign investment practice at Stikeman, said Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government deserves credit for not scaring off U.S. investors in its response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued trade war threats.
“To the government’s credit, notwithstanding all the geopolitical complexities, they are actually managing things, including the capital markets situation, admirably in the circumstances,” Mr. Kilby said. “I think the government has been quite mature and principled and hasn’t been too episodic or transactional.”
Mr. Ciardullo cited Texas-based Sunoco LP’s $7.7-billion deal to take Calgary-based fuel retailer Parkland Corp. private as a good example of U.S. buyers continuing to be treated fairly in Canada. In March, 2025, two months before Sunoco made its offer for Parkland, Ottawa tightened foreign investment restrictions to guard against what it called “predatory” acquisitions while tariff-related tensions were at a peak.
At the time, there was concern the government might block the deal, though it was ultimately approved.
“People were very nervous about that deal and how it would be perceived from a foreign investment perspective,” Mr. Ciardullo said. “But Sunoco was a fantastic buyer, really intent on doing all the right things.”
Public markets are still widely considered the single largest source of financing to fund corporate growth ambitions, but there are increasing examples of privatization allowing formerly public companies to access even larger sums.
Less than a month after Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Capital took CI Financial private in a $4.7-billion transaction last year, Toronto-based CI was able to acquire two investment fund managers. Mr. Ciardullo said being taken private by an entity with roughly US$330-billion invested around the world helped to make those deals possible.
“That deal was very much billed as an opportunity to grow with greater access to capital from deep pockets,” Mr. Ciardullo said. “Now CI can be a growth machine.”
Ultimately, Mr. Peterman said the TSX doesn’t like to see issuers go away, but that a strong privatization trend can be healthy for public markets.
“There is an aspect of renewal and it resets valuations and creates a little more scarcity,” he said. “There are benefits to it.”