Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last 24 hours,
Banks expected to report lower profits this week: The glass looks both half full and half empty for Canada’s large banks as they prepare to report fourth-quarter financial results this week, capping off a tempestuous fiscal year. (James Bradshaw)
Desmarais-backed EV maker Lion Electric raises US$200-million through merger, to trade on NYSE: Electric vehicle producer Lion Electric Co., backed by the Desmarais family, is going public through a merger with a U.S. entity that will inject US$200-million of fresh capital into the Canadian startup. (Tim Kiladze)
Britain’s Arcadia files for bankruptcy protection: One of Britain’s largest retailers, Arcadia Group, has filed for bankruptcy protection, putting 15,000 jobs at risk and further damaging the country’s already rattled economy. (Paul Waldie)
Artis REIT, Sandpiper end proxy fight with Artis CEO, CFO exiting: Sandpiper Group has won its bid for control of Artis Real Estate Investment Trust, long before the company’s unitholders were slated to vote in a proxy contest. (Jeffrey Jones)
Element AI hands out pink slips hours after announcement of sale to U.S.-based ServiceNow: Element AI Inc., the Montreal startup that raised more than US$250-million in hopes of building a Canadian artificial intelligence giant, is being sold for an undisclosed sum to Silicon Valley software company ServiceNow Inc. (Sean Silcoff)
Toronto telemedicine company MindBeacon looks to go public on TSX as demand surges during pandemic: Veteran Bay Street financier and entrepreneur Sam Duboc is set to take his telemedicine startup MindBeacon Software Inc. public on the Toronto Stock Exchange amid a surge in demand for digitally delivered health services during the pandemic. (Sean Silcoff)
Board Games 2020: How we ranked Canada’s corporate boards: For the 19th 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. (David Milstead)
Bitcoin hits new record, this time with less talk of a bubble: Nearly three years after it went on a hair-bending rise and hit a peak of $19,783, the price of a single Bitcoin rose above that for the first time Monday, according to data and news provider CoinDesk. (New York Times)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
It’s his job to prepare for calamities. COVID-19 pushed TD beyond its playbook: When Canada plunged into a COVID-induced lockdown in mid-March, TD Bank chief risk officer Ajai Bambawale spearheaded the bank’s response for its over 2,000 branches across Canada and the U.S. (James Bradshaw)
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