Uncertainty has been a theme in 2016: on the heels of Brexit, Donald Trump has been named the President-elect of the United States. As a result of Trump’s surprising victory at the ballot box, financial markets and the US dollar
2016
M&A transactions between fintech companies and traditional banks

Financial technology (fintech) companies like Square, Wealthsimple and Mint are already having disruptive effects in their respective industries, changing the way Canadians pay for goods and services, invest their savings, and manage their finances. A recent survey shows…
M&A considerations for resource issuers: Canada’s Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act
Canada’s Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA, or the Act) came into force on June 1, 2015. The Act imposes disclosure obligations on certain Canadian businesses engaged in the commercial development of oil, gas or minerals with…
Canada’s first post-BEPS tax treaty: implementing the new treaty shopping proposals

Last November, we told you about the new treaty shopping rules proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as part of the final report on Action 6 of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and…
Merging of digital and physical worlds: impact on M&A in non-digital industries

Strategy& of PwC published Mergercast “Digital Deals – A New Frontier” (Episode 56) in July 2016, which discusses the growing rationale for digital deal-making and post-deal challenges. Particularly, this podcast identifies that digital deals accounted for nearly 32% of all…
M&A overview and outlook for Q4 2016

After the record breaking year that was 2015, MergerMarket’s 2016 Half-Year Edition reports that M&A activity in the first half of 2016 has fallen by 10% in total deals and 30% in deal value compared to the same time last…
Mining M&A for 2016: digging deeper into the numbers

As discussed in our latest update on M&A activity in the mining industry, there has been a recent and substantial rise in deal volume and value in the industry. This is exciting news for mining companies that have suffered from…
Change-in-control severance and its impact on key talent retention

As discussed in previous posts written by my colleagues Victoria Riley and Sara Josselyn, key talent retention is an important consideration for parties to a proposed M&A transaction. The uncertainty of a potential transaction may cause key employees to…
A global overview of M&A activity: August 2016

MergerMarket Group recently published its September edition of Monthly M&A Insider which reported on mergers and acquisitions activity around the world for the month of August 2016. More than two thirds into the year, August was no exception to the…
The year of technology M&A

Despite the 18% drop in the volume of mergers and acquisitions as compared to last year, one sector that has not lost a step is the technology sector. As of June this year there have been about $260 billion in…