Good morning! In this week’s newsletter, we check in on Brookfield’s latest results and record year, Barbara Shecter reports on Jobber’s $100 million vote of confidence and FP Dealmakers talks to top lawyers about the prospect of a deals rebound in 2023.
— Joe Hood, Managing Editor, Financial Post
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Markets may have wobbled in 2022, but apparently no one told Brookfield Asset Management. According to Bloomberg News, the company reported US$569 million in earnings in the year’s final quarter, the first after splitting Brookfield Asset off as a separate entity from Brookfield Corp. Brookfield also raised more than US$90 billion for the year — a record for the company — and CEO Bruce Flatt said in a letter to shareholders that the outlook for fundraising remains strong.
RECORD RAISE
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Jobber bucks tech slowdown with $100-million funding round
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When venture capital markets get tight, founders often find themselves backed into a corner, forced to accept onerous terms that can dilute their equity in exchange for funding. But that wasn’t the case for Sam Pillar, the chief executive of Edmonton-based Jobber, a home-services software company that raised $100 million this week in a major fundraising round. Pillar told Barbara Shecter the “clean deal” was a testament to the business model behind Jobber, which provides software solutions for contractors, plumbers and others in the home service space. “For the most part, we’re displacing paper, and that’s why the opportunity is so large,” he said.
UNDERSERVED MARKET
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FP Dealmakers: M&A lawyers see pace picking up after slow 2022
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Lawyers are great at shaping the facts to their advantage, but even Bay Street’s finest had a hard time arguing 2022 was a great year for dealmaking. They did, however, do their best to paint the precipitous decline from a blockbuster 2021 — Financial Post Data figures showing deal count fell by 41 per cent and deal values by about 20 per cent — as inevitable and necessary for setting a more sustainable base going forward. And they expressed some measured optimism about the year ahead, noting there are early stirrings of activity as the reality of higher rates sinks in and capital needs that went unmet last year are finally addressed.
‘WE’RE STARTING TO SEE ACTIVITY AGAIN’
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Brookfield Reinsurance to buy insurance firm Argo in $1.1 billion deal
Bitcoin miners Hut 8, US Bitcoin to combine in stock merger as crypto prices continue to slump
Sun Life Financial names former Rogers CEO Joe Natale to board of directors
BMO closes US$16.3 billion Bank of the West deal
Canadians now expect to need $1.7 million to retire, up 20% from 2020, BMO survey finds
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