The Investment Industry Association of Canada has released its First Quarter Report on Equity New Issues and Trading:
Financial institutions shifted from issuing new common shares in the fourth quarter of 2008 to preferred shares in the first quarter of 2009. During Q4/08 the financial sector issued $7.7 billion of common equity, accounting for 72% of common share issuance, whereas in Q1/09 only $2.5 billion or 32% was from the financial sector. As a result, total common equity issuance witnessed a 26% pullback from the previous quarter, while preferred shares surged over threefold and reached record highs of $4.4 billion in financings in Q1/09. Q1’s preferred share issuance equaled 65% of all of 2008’s preferred share issuance (Chart 2).
