Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last week,
Independent directors fighting Doug Ford over who will be Hydro One’s next CEO: Ontario Premier Doug Ford is in a standoff with independent directors on the Hydro One board over who will be the utility’s next CEO. The outcome of the fight is expected to determine the future direction of the company that transmits electricity in the province. Story (Andrew Willis and Karen Howlett, for subscribers)
Ivanhoé Cambridge looking to sell stakes in 10 shopping malls across Canada: Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. is trying to sell stakes in 10 Canadian malls across the country, according to people familiar with the matter, the second time in a year the real estate company has sought to reduce its exposure to retail. Story (Rachelle Younglai, for subscribers)
TD Bank’s unorthodox new strategy: Investing in its branches again Toronto-Dominion Bank is putting Canadian retail branches at the centre of its growth plans, a new strategy that will make the lender look more like its old self. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Scotiabank names new heads of global banking and markets in latest senior staff shuffle: Bank of Nova Scotia is reworking the top ranks of its capital-markets team, while also shuffling senior executives within its Canadian banking division. Dieter Jentsch, the head of Scotiabank’s global banking and markets unit, has announced his retirement after 35 years at the bank. He took over as head of the division in 2016. Before that, Mr. Jentsch ran international banking. Story (Alexandra Posadzki and Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Hot U.S. economy boosts TD and CIBC profits, but competition is rising: Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce can thank a hot U.S. economy for higher profits. But the banks' sizable American operations aren’t expected to deliver as much growth in 2019 because of rising competition. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
RBC eyes annuities business as earnings driver for insurance arm in 2019: Royal Bank of Canada’s annuities business is poised to fuel earnings growth for its insurance arm in fiscal 2019. Typically used for retirement planning, annuities are a type of insurance product that provides a steady stream of fixed income where investors pay a lump sum up front and in return receive monthly payments for life. Story (Clare O’Hara, for subscribers)
‘Exempt market’ sees surge in investments, but mostly from big money, OSC report finds: An explosion of capital has been raised under a series of rule changes that were thought to make it easier for small companies and retail investors to connect − but big companies and sophisticated investors are taking up the bulk of the market. That’s the conclusion from an Ontario Securities Commission report on the “exempt market,” or deals where the companies raising money relied on exemptions from the full, lengthy disclosures found in a traditional offering prospectus. Story (David Milstead, for subscribers)
Sleep Country buys mattress startup Endy for up to $89-million: Mattress retailer Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. has agreed to buy one of its biggest upstart e-commerce competitors, Endy, for up to $89-million. Endy, which was founded in 2015 makes its mattresses in Canada and ships for free across the country, is one of more than 100 “bed-in-a-box” retailers that sells primarily online, with such other competitors as Casper. Story (Josh O’Kane, for subscribers)
Rogers sells personal-finance website MoneySense to Toronto-based Ratehub: Rogers Communications Inc. has sold personal-finance website MoneySense to Toronto-based Ratehub Inc., the owner of an online comparison site for financial products as well as mortgage brokerage CanWise Financial. It’s the first such deal announced since Rogers put eight of its magazines up for sale in the summer, some of them digital-only titles such as MoneySense. Story (Susan Krashinsky Robertson, for subscribers)
RBC’s profit soars, but skepticism still reigns: Royal Bank of Canada reported solid profits on Wednesday for the ninth straight year, and, like clockwork, the bank’s executives were rewarded with skeptical questions from analysts about the odds of future success. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
RBC launches online robo-adviser platform for investors: After a year-long pilot project, Royal Bank of Canada has officially opened its robo-adviser platform to all investors, making it the second major Canadian bank to build its own online portfolio manager. Story (Clare O’Hara, for subscribers)
Scotiabank’s new focus: Bank of Nova Scotia signalled that it will take a breather from major acquisitions, after racking up deals totalling nearly $7-billion over the past year. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Scotiabank’s exit from Caribbean insurance opens door for Sagicor in Canada: Bank of Nova Scotia’s decision to exit the life insurance market in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago paved the way Tuesday for one of the Caribbean’s oldest and largest insurers, Sagicor Financial Corp., to make its debut on Canadian markets. Barbados-based Sagicor is paying US$203-million for Scotiabank’s insurance operations in two of the Caribbean’s most populous countries, along with a 20-year agreement to sell its products to the bank’s clients in the two countries. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Scotiabank confident in loan book’s ability to withstand oil uncertainty: Alberta’s energy slump is sparking fears about contagion spreading to the broader economy and the big banks, but Bank of Nova Scotia, the first major bank to report earnings for the quarter ended Oct. 31, says it is confident its loan book will withstand the commodity cycle. Story (Alexandra Posadzki, for subscribers)
Why Scotiabank looks like the best bank stock to buy right now: You might be tempted to invest in Bank of Nova Scotia because of its big dividend yield, low valuation or large emerging-markets footprint. But here’s a better reason: The stock is a dud. Story (David Berman, for subscribers)
Questrade Wealth settles with Ontario Securities Commission for $3-million: Questrade Wealth Management Inc. has agreed to pay $3-million in fines after investment regulators found the company failed to shield clients from a possible conflict of interest following the sale of its exchange-traded funds business to WisdomTree Investments Inc. Story (Clare O’Hara, for subscribers)
Caisse buys $200-million stake in Montreal travel software firm Plusgrade: On Wednesday, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is announcing it has bought an undisclosed stake in Ken Harris’s nine-year-old Montreal-based Plusgrade LP, valuing a software company that has been described as an “eBay for business class airline tickets” at more than $600-million. It’s the largest investment into a Canadian private technology firm this year, and the latest in a string of big-ticket investments by the Quebec pension management giant. Story (Sean Silcoff, for subscribers)
Investors in two Fortress housing projects strike deals for payout: Investors who helped finance two Fortress Real Developments Inc. housing projects will get most of their loans repaid under new settlement offers, providing positive news for some Fortress investors while others still face the prospect of large losses as senior lenders seize control of numerous projects. Story (Janet McFarland, for subscribers)
TD Bank to pay $1-billion to be lead partner in Air Canada’s takeover of Aeroplan: Toronto-Dominion Bank is betting heavily on the success of Air Canada’s takeover of the Aeroplan loyalty program, committing to $1-billion worth of upfront payments and future expenses as the lead financial partner. Air Canada and its takeover partners – TD, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Visa Canada Corp. – won a battle in August to acquire Aeroplan from Aimia Inc. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Fairfax Financial stands to gain as Greek banks announce merger plans: Two of Greece’s largest financial institutions announced merger plans on Monday in a deal that better positions major shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. for a rebound in the Greek economy. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Canadian firms object to influence of proxy advisers: Canadian companies that have complained about what they say is the undue influence of proxy advisers could get a boost from U.S. legislation that could rein them in. Proxy advisers offer opinions to their clients, typically big institutional investors, on the measures companies send to their shareholders for a vote. Often, there’s not much controversy. But the firms, such as Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), have developed their own guidelines for what constitutes effective corporate governance and appropriate executive pay − and when companies run afoul of those guidelines, the firms recommend their clients vote “no” on company proposals. Many companies don’t like that much, at all. Story (David Milstead, for subscribers)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: BOARD GAMES
The Globe and Mail’s comprehensive ranking of Canada’s corporate boards: For the 17th year in a row, Report on Business has rated the work of Canada’s corporate boards using a rigorous set of governance criteria designed to go far beyond minimum mandatory rules imposed by regulators. Tables (for subscribers)
Growing up: Cannabis firms fall short on corporate governance: After months of focusing on how to grow marijuana, publicly-traded pot producers are facing a new problem: how to grow up. One of the key next steps in the industry’s evolution from outlaw business to legal industry is to bolster corporate governance – the set of best practices in how a board manages a corporation, and the disclosures that let investors know it’s being done right. Story (David Milstead, for subscribers)
Why three of Canada’s Big Cannabis firms scored low on corporate governance rankings: Explainer
How we ranked Canada’s corporate boards: Methodology
MORE FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS FROM FRIDAY
Money laundering: Police have searched the offices of all the members of Deutsche Bank’s board as part of an investigation into money laundering allegations linked to the Panama Papers, a source told Reuters on Friday. Story
Wealth management: Brenham Capital Management LP, an energy equities fund manager with about $800-million in assets under management, will shut after two years of losses, its founder said in a letter to investors on Friday. Story (for subscribers)
MORE DEALS NEWS FROM FRIDAY
OMERS deal: Telecoms and cable group Altice Europe on Friday said its French unit had agreed to sell a 49.99 percent stake in its SFR FTTH fibre optic business to three investment funds for 1.8 billion euros, sending its shares soaring. Story
IPO: SoftBank chalked up another first in Japan on Friday, setting a single indicative price of 1,500 yen for its telco IPO rather than a price range as usual, pegging the deal at 2.4 trillion yen ($21.16 billion) in the country’s biggest-ever listing. Story (for subscribers)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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