CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Grant McGlaughlin, Sean Stevens and Claire Gowdy, Fasken
Fasken Bay Adelaide Centre 333 Bay St. #2400, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2T6 Canada Tel: +1 416 865 4382 Email: gmcglaughlin@fasken.com Web: fasken.com
1. Transaction Activity 1.1 Private Equity Transactions and M&A Deals in General 2024 was a robust year for private equity investment in Canada, with the highest investment levels in the last seven years including eight mega deals for a total of CAD19 billion in investment. The number of deals in 2024 was similar to the number of deals in 2023 and reflects some continued uncertainty in the mar - ket largely due to macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Although 2024 represented a year for significant mega deals, the Canadian market is still dominated by mid-market transactions in the CAD25 million to CAD100 million range. Private equity exits rebounded in 2024 after a dis - mal year in 2023, with 86 exits all from M&A activity (including secondary buyouts) and no initial public offerings, reflecting the continued trend away from public capital markets as an alternative to finance exits for private equity owners. 2025 activity has started out strong for deal activity, but current headwinds from geopolitical trade nego - tiations and interest and inflation uncertainty could stress deal volumes for the remainder of 2025. 1.2 Market Activity and Impact of Macro- Economic Factors The first half of 2025 was a dynamic six months in the Canadian economic, political and regulatory land - scape with four broad developments relevant to pri - vate equity investment and dealmaking in Canada,
including domestic and inbound transactions. These are: (1) Canada’s new, more-business focused federal government; (2) a significant recent federal economic statute, namely Bill C-5: One Canadian Economy; (3) new energy sector stimulation and diversification ini - tiatives, and (4) dealmaking considerations amid fluc - tuating international trade policy. (1) New, More Business-Focused Canadian Federal Government Canada’s previous federal government was often indifferent to business interests, with the result that productivity, business investment and government finances suffered. The new federal government, elected in May 2025, is decidedly more pro-business and growth-focused. Canada’s new government campaigned principally on economic and business issues, including increasing productivity, reducing internal impediments to growth and competitive - ness, improving infrastructure, broadening interna - tional trade relationships, and stimulating increased domestic and international investment. The dedication of Canada’s new federal government to aggressively pursuing these goals is partly driven by the fluctuating trade and tariff policies of the new US administration that took office in January 2025. (2) Bill C-5: One Canadian Economy An early and significant initiative of Canada’s new fed - eral government that reflects the new administration’s business and growth focus is Bill C-5: One Canadian Economy. Bill C-5 included two separate pieces of new legislation, namely the Building Canada Act and the Free Trade and Labour Mobility Act. The Building
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