Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last 24 hours,
Why GMP’s capital markets sale shouldn’t surprise anyone: Some booms on Bay Street end with a bang. Both the dot-com bubble and the income-trust bonanza disappeared in a flash. Others fade like dying empires. For Canada’s independent investment banks, it’s been the latter. Story (Tim Kiladze)
GMP Capital restructures its footprint, sells capital markets business to U.S.-based Stifel Financial: Canadian investment bank GMP Capital Inc. has agreed to sell the bulk of its capital markets business to Stifel Financial Corp. in a deal worth approximately $70-million. Toronto-based GMP will hold on to its U.S. marijuana sector in capital markets, and its wealth management business. In fact, GMP intends to focus almost entirely on wealth management and will attempt to buy the approximately two-thirds share in Richardson GMP Ltd. it doesn’t already own. Story (Niall McGee)
Street Capital gains much-needed cash boost with $85-million sale to RFA Capital: Street Capital Group Inc. has struck an all-cash deal to be acquired by RFA Capital Inc. for $85-million, securing a much-needed infusion of capital as the mortgage lender has struggled to keep pace in a competitive market. RFA Capital will pay 68 cents a share to acquire all of Street Capital’s shares and take the lender private – a 36-per-cent premium to Friday’s closing price, subject to approvals from shareholders and authorities. Story (James Bradshaw)
Mortgage industry remains skeptical as Ottawa details new incentive for first-time home buyers: The federal government released new details of its First-Time Home Buyer incentive Monday, including that its ultimate cost to home buyers will rise or fall in direct proportion to the value of the property. The program will launch Sept. 2 – more than a month before Canadians head to the polls – according to new details released Monday. Story (Bill Curry and Janet McFarland)
Montreal telemedicine startup Dialogue raises $40-million in financing led by Caisse: Montreal-based telemedicine startup Dialogue has raised $40-million in venture capital, led by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Germany’s Holtzbrinck Ventures. The three-year-old company has 400 enterprise customers, about half of whom are in Quebec and another 40 per cent in the rest of Canada, including National Bank of Canada, Lightspeed POS, Industrial Alliance, Air Canada Vacations and Stingray Digital Group. Story (Sean Silcoff)
Online loan provider Borrowell raises $20-million in second round of funding: An online loan provider that offers Canadians free credit-score reports has raised an additional $20-million in equity and venture debt funding, co-led by Power Financial’s Portag3 Ventures. Borrowell, which launched in 2015, will announce Monday it received a second round of funding co-led by existing investors Portag3 and White Star Capital. The group also included new investors Clocktower Ventures, Argo Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. The fintech provider says it has surpassed more than a million users on its platform. Story (Clare O’Hara)
A spectacular fall to earth for star British fund manager Neil Woodford: With his trademark Marine-style haircut, baggy jeans and T-shirts, Neil Woodford has never been quite like any other British fund manager. He’s the gruff outsider who gained fame during 26 years at the British fund giant Invesco Perpetual by steering clear of the tech bubble in 2000 and the financial crisis in 2008. Story (Paul Waldie)
MORE FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS
Deutsche Bank plans to pare U.S. equities business to skeleton operation, sources say: Deutsche Bank plans to dramatically reduce the size of its U.S. equities business, leaving only a skeleton operation in place to service corporate and high-net-worth clients, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Story (Reuters)
Deutsche Bank to set up 50-billion euro ‘bad bank’: Deutsche Bank is planning to overhaul its trading operations by creating a “bad bank” to hold tens of billions of euros of assets and shrinking or shutting its U.S. equity and trading businesses, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Story (Reuters)
HSBC opens in Apple’s hometown, promises 50 new U.S. branchesH: The U.S. arm of HSBC Holdings Plc announced plans on Monday to expand its branch network by around a quarter as it opened a new location in Apple Inc’s home town of Cupertino, California. Story (Reuters)
UBS loses role in bond deal for Chinese firm on outcry over pig comment: UBS has lost a lead role on a U.S. dollar bond deal for state-backed China Railway Construction Corp., just days after a Chinese outcry over a senior UBS economist’s use of “pig” in connection with Chinese food price inflation. Story (Reuters)
MORE DEALS NEWS
Billionaire Patrick Drahi snaps up Sotheby’s in US$3.7-billion deal: Franco-Israeli cable magnate Patrick Drahi made a surprise move into the art world by snapping up Sotheby’s in a deal worth US$3.7 billion, marking the art auction house’s return to private ownership after 31 years. Story (Reuters)
Pfizer bolsters cancer portfolio with US$10.64-billion deal for Array Biopharma: Pfizer Inc. on Monday struck a deal to buy Array Biopharma Inc. for US$10.64-billion in cash to expand its portfolio of potentially lucrative cancer drugs. Story (Reuters)
Oilfield services firms Keane Group, C&J Energy to merge: sources: Keane Group Inc and C&J Energy Services Inc are set to merge in an all-stock deal that will create a new U.S. oilfield services company worth around US$1.5 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Story (Reuters)
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