Equity markets, oil, gold, and the Canadian dollar were all up Thursday, but few deals got done.
InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust brought a $75-million 7-year, 6 per cent convert to market. Proceeds will be used to redeem outstanding converts and to repay other debt. Scotia Capital led the deal.
Earlier in the morning General Motors announced the $3.5-billion (U.S.) cash acquisition of auto-finance company AmeriCredit Corp. Through this deal, GM will once again have an in-house auto lender after it sold a controlling stake in its GMAC finance arm in 2006. The auto maker hopes the deal will lead to more sales as dealers have complained that limited financing options have discouraged buyers.
And as a point of interest, Dell has agreed to a $100-million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission after claims that the company used faulty accounting to meet earnings targets. Michael Dell has also agreed to pay a civil monetary penalty of $4 million.