Bloomberg has ranked GMP Capital Inc. the country's top equity underwriter for the first quarter after Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.'s $1.35-billion IPO.
It's the first time in at least 10 years that GMP, which co-led the Athabasca initial public offering with Morgan Stanley, has topped the list, the news agency said Monday. GMP was also involved in offerings for Mega Brands Inc. and Dundee Precious Metals Inc. "This is the largest equity underwriting that we've undertaken in the history of the firm," chief executive officer Kevin Sullivan told Bloomberg.
CIBC World Markets slipped to seventh place from first place a year earlier, Bloomberg said.
Over all, the news agency calculated, equity and equity-linked sales jumped 24 per cent to $8.16-billion in the first quarter.
"The IPO market is definitely showing strong signs of an uptick after a long, fallow period," Mr. Sullivan said. "As Athabasca showed, investors are willing to commit capital back to the public equity markets if there's a very good story to be told."