Here are the top reads on financial services and deals of the past week. Not there is a whole sector below for Trans Mountain. Have a great weekend,
Earnings wrap: Toronto-Dominion Bank has emerged from the second-quarter earnings season as the clear winner among the Big Six, and its shares are reflecting the strong results. Can TD maintain its lead? Story (David Berman, for subscribers)
Wealth management deal: Bank of Nova Scotia is extending a string of acquisitions with a $2.6-billion deal to buy MD Financial Management, a leading wealth-management company catering to doctors. Story (James Bradshaw, Jacqueline Nelson and Tim Kiladze)
Shipping sector: Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is once again doubling its investment in Seaspan Corp. in a deal that will make it the largest investor in the publicly traded container shipping company. Story (Jacqueline Nelson, for subscribers)
Venture capital: The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is lining up behind Toronto’s ecobee Inc., co-leading a $47-million funding round with AGL Energy Ltd. and Business Development Bank of Canada, capping off a total investment this year of $127-million for the smart-thermostat maker. Story (Josh O’Kane, for subscribers)
Bank earnings: Bank of Montreal is continuing its drive to get leaner, recording a $260-million pretax restructuring charge even as profit from its core operations rose sharply in recent months. Story (James Bradshaw, for subscribers)
Bank earnings: National Bank of Canada raised its quarterly dividend as it reported its second-quarter profit improved more than 10 per cent compared with a year ago and beat expectations. Story
CFO news: Bank of Nova Scotia’s chief financial officer, Sean McGuckin, is taking a leave of absence to attend to a family illness. Story (James Bradshaw)
Legal moves: For the second time this month, a former provincial premier is joining the ranks of a national law firm. Christy Clark, the former leader of British Columbia’s Liberal Party, is joining Bennett Jones LLP as a special adviser, based in Vancouver. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Financial products: Canada’s fourth major bank began trading on Wednesday its own proprietary exchange-traded funds that will follow a “fund of funds” investment strategy. The Bank of Nova Scotia’s asset-management division, Scotia Global Asset Management, announced the launch of the Scotia Strategic ETF Portfolios, a suite of smart beta ETF portfolios that include fixed income, domestic and global equity funds. Story (Clare O’Hara)
Mining: Nemaska Lithium Inc., a Quebec-based miner and developer of lithium salts, has raised $1.1-billion from investors as it aims to respond to surging demand for the metal used in electric vehicles and cellphone batteries. Story (Nicolas Van Praet)
Petronas buys LNG stake: Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas will buy a 25-per-cent stake in a B.C. liquefied natural project led by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, a move designed to strengthen the $40-billion proposal and bolster Canadian energy exports. Story (Brent Jang, for subscribers)
Foreign takeovers: Recent accolades for Ottawa’s decision to disallow a Chinese state-owned enterprise’s (SOE) bid for Canadian construction giant Aecon are justified, but the real takeaway is that Ottawa’s policy on national security and foreign investment is an opaque, confusing mess. Opinion
Hacks: Bank of Montreal and Simplii Financial are grappling with the fallout from apparent data breaches that may have exposed sensitive personal and financial information belonging to tens of thousands of customers. Story (James Bradshaw)
Bank earnings: Bank of Nova Scotia’s expanding international footprint fuelled larger second-quarter profits as Canada’s third-largest lender continues to grab share in key Latin American markets. Story (James Bradshaw)
U.S. bank outlook: JPMorgan Chase & Co corporate and investment bank chief Daniel Pinto said that second-quarter markets revenue looks like it will be flat compared with a year earlier. Story
Aecon reaction: China’s envoy has accused the federal government of discrimination for blocking the takeover of a Canadian construction giant by a Chinese state-owned enterprise on national security grounds, calling on Canada to get rid of such ”demons” of prejudice against his country. Story (Robert Fife and Steven Chase)
Real estate sector: A Chinese billionaire has emerged as the buyer for Hudson’s Bay Co.’s key retail property in downtown Vancouver, a sign that some Chinese investors are able to make big foreign real estate purchases. Story (Rachelle Younglai, for subscribers)
Quebec retail investment: La Maison Simons is bringing in outside investors for the first time in its storied history, striking deals with two public-sector partners that will help fund a new distribution centre key to its strategy as it confronts an unforgiving retail environment. The Quebec City-based clothing store chain, believed to be the oldest privately-owned family business in the country at 178 years, is opening its share capital to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Investissement Québec after weeks of talks. Story (Nicolas Van Praet)
Listings: Another American cannabis company is listing its shares in Canada, sparking investor interest in U.S. pot stocks at a time when many listed marijuana producers already enjoy steep valuations. Story (Christina Pellegrini, for subscribers)
Financial products: The breakthrough of robo-advisers is to offer a way to instantly turn the cash you want to invest into a properly diversified, well-tended portfolio. The three new balanced exchange-traded funds from Vanguard do pretty much the same thing. So have robos been outflanked? Story (Rob Carrick, for subscribers)
Regulation: Cryptocurrency proponents are calling for regulations governing Canada’s virtual-currency exchanges, the online marketplaces where users go to buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum and other digital tokens, as the nascent industry becomes increasingly mainstream. Story (Alexandra Posadzki, for subscribers)
Provincial election: For Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, it was the perfect opportunity to capitalize on anger over the province’s hydro rates − an issue that has riled voters like few others. Instead of offering something sensible, she proposed to buy back Hydro One. Analysis (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Media: The Competition Bureau has refused to bless the sale of two French-language specialty channels by Corus Entertainment Inc. to Bell Media Inc., dealing a blow to Corus’s effort to rein in debt by selling off assets. Story (Tim Shufelt)
Technology: Four weeks after highlighting a groundbreaking software sale to a major U.S. bank, Real Matters Inc. announced on Monday that the contract was cancelled, news that knocked back the technology company’s share price. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Fintechs: The advent of financial technologies and the companies that provide them present numerous opportunities for all financial sector participants and their customers. But, as we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch. With these rewards come several risks that, if not properly identified, understood and managed, pose threats to consumers, financial institutions and the soundness of the financial system as a whole. Opinion
TRANS MOUNTAIN
The prediction: For a generation of Western Canadians, the Trudeau name was a word to be uttered in disgust. The next generation will speak Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s name with reverence, I fearlessly predict. Played right, the federal Liberal government will build a better Canada out of its $4.5-billion-and-counting investment in the Trans Mountain pipeline and bank a tidy profit for taxpayers along the way. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
The objective: Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says Ottawa is not seeking to make a profit when it sells the Trans Mountain pipeline, and is instead focused on his government’s goal of making sure the controversial expansion is actually built. Story (Kelly Cryderman and Jeff Lewis)
The bankers: Boutique investment bank Greenhill & Co. flexed its financing muscle by stepping up as the sole adviser to the federal government on its $4.5-billion acquisition of the Trans Mountain pipeline project from Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
The timing: If the Prime Minister can duplicate his grandfather’s track record, taxpayers will do just fine out of the Trans Mountain deal. But Mr. Trudeau needs to get his timing right. Opinion (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
The potential buyers: Buyers could prove elusive as the federal government seeks to offload the Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion project, despite pledges by Ottawa to shoulder risks and help fund construction. Story (Jeff Lewis and Kelly Cryderman, for subscribers)
The politics: Ottawa’s decision to nationalize the Trans Mountain pipeline project and get the bulldozers rolling this summer has transformed the opposition on B.C.’s coast: The fight is no longer with a Texas oil giant − this is now Justin Trudeau’s pipeline. Story (Justine Hunter)
The numbers: Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. is being paid handsomely for its Trans Mountain pipeline and its well-publicized troubles expanding it. Story (Jeffrey Jones, for subscribers)
FRIDAY NEWS WRAP
Bank earnings: Laurentian Bank Financial Group raised its quarterly dividend as its second-quarter profit beat expectations. The bank said Friday it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 64 cents per share, up a penny from its previous rate. Story
Ratings: Deutsche Bank, the ECB and its biggest investor sought to reassure shareholders and staff of its financial strength on Friday after S&P cut its rating and questioned its plan to return to profitability. Story
Proxy fight: A key proxy advisory firm is backing the management board nominees in a fight at DavidsTea Inc. between the company and a co-founder of the tea shop chain looking to replace the board. Story
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