Market surge: Hydro One stocks a hit on TSX
Government thrilled by $1.66B raised on day one; opposition fears more assets will be up for grabs
Investors made Hydro One the hottest ticket on the Toronto Stock Exchange Thursday while politicians continued fiery debate at Queen’s Park over the decision to sell Ontario’s utility transmission behemoth.
Hydro One was the top traded Canadian stock Thursday, with about 18 million shares changing hands in one of the largest and most politically charged Canadian initial public offerings in more than a decade.
The company raised $1.66 billion in its market debut. Shares closed at $21.62, 5.5 per cent higher than the $20.50 price tag attached at the market open.
“It’s very encouraging to see so much demand for the shares on day one,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Canada. “Having Hydro One public is excellent for Canadian investors as it gives them another option in a sector that is dominated by governments with few large public options until now.”
The Ontario government wants to use the money raised through the sale of a 13.6-per-cent stake in Hydro One to fund transit and infrastructure projects. The Liberals plan to sell off 60 per cent of the utility in three more public offerings, expected to generate a total of $9 billion.
At Queen’s Park, Finance Minister Charles Sousa was crowing about the stock’s successful first day.
“I’m pleased to see that it is being wellreceived in the marketplace,” said Sousa, whose Liberal government hopes to eventually net $4 billion from the Hydro One sale after paying down $5 billion in the utility’s debt.
That $4 billion in proceeds will go toward Premier Kathleen Wynne’s 10-year, $30.5-billion plan to build new transit, roads and bridges.
“Every uptick on the mark is an indication that the future offerings will net even greater proceeds benefiting all Ontarians,” said Sousa.
“It will mean . . . billions of dollars being reinvested into our economy, into building new assets, into producing greater revenues in the net benefit for all of us concerned,” the treasurer said.
But the sell-off of the Crown asset remains controversial with both the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats opposing it and the province’s financial accountability officer (FAO) warning it will be bad for the province’s bottom line.
“Nearly 80 per cent of the people of Ontario oppose the sale. The FAO has confirmed that 80 per cent knows what we’ve said all along: This is a bad deal for Ontario,” said Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown.
“The sale will raise the cost of hydro and make life even more unaffordable for Ontario’s residents,” said Brown, though rates will in fact continue to be regulated by the independent Ontario Energy Board.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath predicted that selling 60 per cent of Hydro One is just the thin edge of the wedge.
“The Liberals like to tell a story about how they campaigned on selling Hydro One. Of course, selling off Hydro One wasn’t anywhere in their platform. Instead they talked about asset optimization, and then they act shocked that Ontarians didn’t think it was obvious that this actually meant selling off Hydro One,” said Horwath.
“More public assets could be going on the auction block. Maybe that’s our nuclear reactors and the rest of the OPG (Ontario Power Generation), maybe that’s the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario), it could be the OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation),” she said.
“These assets bring in significant revenues which help us invest in health care, education, transit, poverty reduction, on our environment — you name it.”
But Sousa insisted those other assets are not on the auction block.
“At this point in time we made it clear in our budget that we are looking at our real estate and a number of our agencies and we have determined that Hydro One was one of those organizations that could be improved upon,” he said, referring to the sale of some property.
The partial privatization pushed Moody’s Investor Services to downgrade its ratings of Hydro One bonds. Senior analyst Gavin MacFarlane said the downgrade is due to the fact the bonds will no longer be 100 per cent backed by the provice and “the corresponding reduction in the probability of extraordinary support from the province.”
Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia, who are acting as underwriters in the utility’s public debut, also have an option to purchase an additional 8.15 million shares, which would bring proceeds from the IPO to a total of $1.83 billion.
The last time the Canadian markets saw such a large IPO was in March 2000, when Sun Life raised $1.8 billion in its public market debut.