TORONTO, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Canadian energy, power and
mining companies are expected to lead a rebound in dealmaking
this year helped by lower interest rates, following a slump in
overall mergers and acquisitions in 2023 to the lowest since the
outbreak of COVID-19, bankers said.
Money markets are betting that the Bank of Canada (BoC),
which raised interest rates to a 22-year high of 5% in 2023,
could start cutting borrowing costs as early as April.
“This general consensus about how 2024 is going to be a more
normalized environment is making its way into the boardroom,”
said Sarfraz Visram, head of Canadian and international mergers
and acquisitions (M&A) at the Bank of Montreal, adding that his
team was having extensive conversations with clients.
“If it pans out, we’ll have a bumper year in M&A for sure.”
Canadian announced M&A in 2023 dropped 27% to $183.9 billion
from the…
