Canadian Securities Exchange to host "Go Public Boot Camp" in Toronto

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) will be hosting two events in Toronto next week designed to encourage local entrepreneurs to consider taking their companies public.
The CSE’s Go Public Boot Camp will be held at the St. Andrew’s Club & Conference Centre on Tuesday, November 15, and will provide entrepreneurial corporate managers with an in-depth look at the process of taking a company public in Canada.
The event will feature presentations by legal, accounting, capital markets and other professionals, and will explore which tools a company would need to effectively transition to the public market and to establish a sustainable best practices framework.
The second event, called CSE Day, will take place at the Trump International Hotel and Tower on Bay Street on November 16, and is a networking event through which investors, finance professionals and industry executives can learn about and share ideas with companies already listed on the exchange.
CSE Day, titled “Where Engagement and Education Lead to Opportunity”, is now in its third year, and will feature a Fall Session and Pitch Reception, providing CSE companies an opportunity to augment capital raising and shareholder communications initiatives by pitching their stories to members of the investment community.
The Pitch Reception is open to existing and prospective issuers, financial market professionals and individual investors.
The CSE held its inaugural Go Public Boot Camp in Vancouver this past October 18, featuring eight speakers and guests from the technology, natural resources and life sciences sectors.
Presenting sponsors for the Go Public Boot Camp include business law firm McMillan LLP; accounting, tax and consulting firm MNP LLP; and SmallCapPower, a leader in small cap stock coverage and research. Also slated to present are representatives from Computershare, Blender Media, CSE-listed Drone Delivery Canada, and members of the capital markets team at Integral Wealth Securities.
2016 has been one of the worst years on record for Canadian IPOs, with only Vancouver-based Glance Technologies Inc.’s $690,000 issue on the CSE representing the sole IPO for the three month period ending September 30, according to the third quarter PwC survey of Canadian equity markets.
The first three quarters of 2016 saw less than $2 million in new issues for the year to date, with zero IPOs happening on the TSX, and Aritzia’s wildly oversubscribed $400 million debut on the TSE this past October representing the largest event on Canadian markets during the entire year.
“We’re certainly at a critical juncture in Canada,” says PwC’s Dean Braunsteiner, “but suggestions that the traditional Canadian IPO market are dead are simply not supported by facts. This is just going to take time.”
Demand for the Aritzia IPO, oversubscribed by a factor of 10, simply shows the hunger investors have for quality, growth-oriented public listings.
The Go Public Boot Camp is free to attend but registration is required: https://csegopublicbootcamp.eventbrite.ca/
Registration for the CSE Day Pitch Reception is available at: https://csedaytorontofallpitch.eventbrite.ca
CSE issuers and capital markets participants planning to attend the CSE Day Executive Luncheon, must register by November 10 to benefit from early-bird pricing: https://csedaytorontofall2016.eventbrite.ca/
CSE Presents: Go Public Boot Camp
When: Tuesday, November 15, 2016, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where: St. Andrew’s Club & Conference Centre; 150 King St. West, 16^th Fl., Sun Life Tower
CSE Day – Where Engagement and Education Lead to Opportunity
When: Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Executive Luncheon from 12:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Pitch Reception from 4:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Where: Trump International Hotel and Tower; 325 Bay St.