Canadian Stock Exchange shows interest in Brazilian companies

With an eye on companies in the mining, renewable energy, infrastructure and newcomers to the technology market, the Toronto Stock Exchange wants to prove that Canada can also be a safe haven for Brazilian companies.

Last week, the president of TMX, Loui Anastasopoulos, on his first visit to Brazil, met with businessmen and investment bank executives to talk about the listing of Brazilian companies in the Canadian market.

“Brazil is one of the main markets we are considering for our global expansion,” said the executive, in an interview with Estadão. He said that his optimism in relation to the country grew after the round of meetings he held over the past week.

The TMX group comprises the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), the latter being for early stage companies such as startups. This year, the Brazilian Bravo Mining managed to raise US$ 31.3 million with the initial offering of shares in the Canadian market.

According to the executive, given the recent conversations and the demonstration of interest by Brazilian companies, it is already possible to estimate that four or five companies in the country will make an initial stock offering (IPO) in Canada next year.

A mapping has already identified at least one hundred companies that may go public in the Canadian market. Anastasopoulos, however, does not set a deadline for meeting the goal, but highlighted that the potential is even greater than that.

“Our market is very good for supporting companies in their initial stages”, said the executive. Anastasopoulos also stated that one of the niches in which the company wants to operate is financing smaller companies, such as startups. “Instead of the company accessing money from a venture capital fund (which invests in early stage businesses), they can access what we call public venture capital.”

“Double Listing”

The intention of prospecting business in Brazil does not mean that the Canadian group sees itself as a competitor of the Brazilian stock exchange, the B3, said the executive. “We are not here to compete with B3, we are here to complement what it already does. They (B3) are very good at serving the mid and large cap markets. But we think we can help support small to medium-sized businesses,” he said.

According to the executive, another objective of TMX is to offer Brazilian companies the opportunity of a “double listing”, that is, to have their shares in both markets. An example of this type of operation occurs with the mining company Aura Minerals, which first went public in Canada. Then, in 2020, it debuted on B3.

In Canada, Aura’s performance has drawn attention. Over the past two years, Brazilian gold production has registered one of the best performances on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which means being at the head of a group of around 3,500 listed companies.

To support the companies here, TMX allocated an executive in Brazil. “Brazil is a very large, very vibrant economy, it has very strong ties with the Canadian economy. Our capital markets are very connected.”