A Bay street sign is seen in Toronto’s financial district.Mark Blinch/The Globe and Mail
Here are the top reads from the week. Have a great weekend,
Bank stocks: Staying loyal to one Canadian bank stock has its advantages. So does owning them all. But if you want to get the most out of an investment in this sector, try buying a fresh bank stock each year. Story (David Berman, for subscribers)
M&A analysis: It has the hallmarks of a transformational deal: The combination of Choice Properties REIT and Canadian REIT will create Canada's largest publicly traded commercial property owner, and the merger is backed by the powerful Weston family. The buyer's investors, though, don't seem so smitten. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
REIT deal: The Weston family plans to buy a large commercial real estate trust for $3.9-billion, a move that would expand their real estate portfolio beyond retail and help insulate their Loblaw supermarket business from rapidly changing consumer shopping habits. Story (Marina Strauss and Rachelle Younglai)
Excess capital: Home Capital Group Inc. is increasing the pace at which it issues new home loans as the alternative mortgage lender seeks to rebuild its diminished business. The company is flush with capital to help fuel its recovery and, on Thursday, analysts pressed for details about how the lender might spend those funds. Story (James Bradshaw, for subscribers)
Financial products: Canadian investors now have four exchange-traded funds to choose from for tapping the high-flying cannabis sector. But this wider availability of ETFs may not translate into significant differences for gaining exposure to the underlying stocks. Story (Clare O'Hara)
Takeover drama: Crack open a marketing brochure from Goodmans LLP, and you'll find one way the Bay Street law firm sells its services to potential clients is by highlighting work for construction company Aecon Group Inc. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Market watch: In the wake of the Great Recession, a golden rule for financial markets emerged: Every few months, investors would inevitably find something new to freak out about. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Insurance: Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada will become the first major insurance company to add medical marijuana to its group benefits plans for Canadian companies, a pivotal move in the insurance industry that will help ease the financial burden for medical-marijuana users, and a sign of the growing acceptance of cannabis in the Canadian workplace. Story (Clare O'Hara, for subscribers)
Going public: This month's stock price correction and cryptocrash will not stop one of Canada's most hotly anticipated digital currency financing transactions from going to market. Story (Sean Silcoff, for subscribers)
Blockchain: The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), whose profile has soared amid a frenzy in marijuana stocks, says it wants to operate a new platform powered by blockchain that, in theory, will clear and settle stock trades instantly. Story (Christina Pellegrini, for subscribers)
Private equity: InstarAGF Asset Management Inc. is preparing to make a $50-million investment in community energy infrastructure through a partnership with British Columbia-based utility company Creative Energy. Story (Jacqueline Nelson, for subscribers)
Canadian venture scene: Montreal serial entrepreneur Cherif Habib discovered how challenging it was for a startup to break into Canada's health-care market when he was trying to build his last venture, a medical devices company called EMcision International Inc. "We were selling all over the world but very little in Canada. It motivated me to think what technologies existed elsewhere that I could bring here." Story (Sean Silcoff, for subscribers)
Opinion: Over the past four months, Michael Beattie has been at the forefront of a hard-edged public-relations campaign to sink the $1.5-billion takeover of construction company Aecon Group Inc. by a state-controlled Chinese infrastructure company. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Takeover review: The Trudeau cabinet has ordered a formal national-security review of the $1.5-billion takeover of Canadian infrastructure firm Aecon Group by a Chinese state-owned construction and engineering enterprise. Story (Robert Fife and Steven Chase)
Street moves: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce bulked up its newly launched "innovation banking" team Monday by hiring cross-border tech financier Robert Rosen away from rival Comerica Inc. Story (Andrew Willis, for subscribers)
Pension consolidation: Bank of Nova Scotia has struck a deal to buy independent investment firm Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd. for $950-million, paying the purchase price mostly with the bank's stock. Story (James Bradshaw)
Looking back: He is one of the original fearless voices, a crusader who took on Canada's corporate elite – from lazy corporate directors to overcompensated investment bankers. As an independent money manager who founded his own firm, Stephen Jarislowsky had free range to say whatever he wanted to. Story (Tim Kiladze, for subscribers)
Regulators: A Canadian regulator has fined a senior executive at National Bank Financial Inc. $90,000 after he struck a pact with a client to gain unfair access to a company's newly issued bonds. Story
Wealth management: When asked how low his company can go when it comes to the management fees investors pay, Vanguard Group's new president and CEO, Tim Buckley, doesn't hesitate with his response of "zero." Story (Clare O'Hara)
FRIDAY FINANCIAL SERVICES STORY WRAP
Insurance charges fallout: General Electric Co was sued on Friday by a shareholder who accused the conglomerate of concealing mounting insurance liabilities and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe, saying it cost shareholders tens of billions of dollars. Story
Exchanges: U.S. regulators on Thursday killed the politically sensitive sale of the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) to a group led by China-based investors, saying a lack of information on the would-be buyers threatened the ability to properly monitor the exchange after the deal. Story (for subscribers)
FRIDAY DEALS STORY WRAP
Energy assets: Enbridge Inc. is on track to shed $3-billion in assets this year and would consider opportunities to sell more if presented with attractive offers, its chief executive officer says. Story
Gold assets: Barrick Gold Corp. subsidiary Acacia Mining PLC is looking at selling part of its troubled African operations. Story (for subscribers)
Chip sector: Qualcomm Inc on Friday called a meeting with Broadcom Ltd to discuss the latter's US$121-billion bid constructive and opened the door to more talks, but continued to reject the proposed deal between the semiconductor companies. Story
Startups: Oracle announced today that it reached an agreement to acquire Zenedge, a company that provides firewalls and denial-of-service mitigation to enterprises. VentureBeat