This is the first article in a three-part series examining the current state of the Canadian IPO market. Part 2 will address the strategic choice between Canadian and American stock exchanges for mining issuers. Part 3 will examine the governance, liability and readiness requirements confronting companies pursuing an IPO in today’s environment.
For decades, the initial public offering occupied a privileged place in corporate finance. It represented the natural evolution of a successful private company and the principal gateway to large-scale growth capital. In Canada, public markets played a particularly important role in financing emerging businesses, especially in the resource, technology and life sciences sectors.
That model has come under increasing pressure.
Why did Canadian IPO activity decline between 2022 and 2025?
Between 2022 and 2025, Canadian IPO activity declined dramatically. Rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, geopolitical instability and market volatility contributed to a significant reduction in public offerings. Many private companies elected to postpone public listings, while others sought capital through private equity, venture capital, sovereign wealth funds or strategic investors. The resulting decline prompted broader questions about the future of Canada’s public markets. Were the challenges facing IPOs merely cyclical, or were they indicative of a more permanent shift in how companies finance growth?
By 2026, however, conditions began to improve. Public equity markets strengthened, investor confidence returned, and several high-profile offerings demonstrated a renewed appetite for new public securities. At the same time, a growing number of Canadian and international issuers began evaluating Canadian markets alongside American stock exchanges, creating a competitive dynamic that would have been less pronounced a decade earlier.
The proper lens through which to view the recent Canadian IPO market is not recovery, but restructuring. The Canadian public markets remain highly relevant, particularly in sectors such as mining and critical minerals. However, the rationale for becoming a public company, the legal obligations associated with public-company status, and the competitive alternatives available to private companies have fundamentally changed.
For boards and management teams, the decision to pursue an IPO has become as much a governance and legal decision as a financing decision.
How active is the Canadian IPO market in 2026?
The first half of 2026 marked the strongest period for Canadian IPO activity since the post-pandemic boom years.
The successful IPO of Apotex Health Corp. (TSX: APTX) represented the largest Canadian public offering in approximately five years and signaled renewed institutional confidence in quality issuers with established operating histories. More broadly, market participants reported a substantial increase in issuer inquiries and listing preparations.
This improvement reflects several factors. Inflationary concerns that dominated markets in 2022 and 2023 have largely subsided. Interest rates appear to have stabilized, reducing uncertainty around valuation models and capital costs.
Public equity markets have recovered significantly. Strong commodity prices, resilient financial institutions, and improving economic sentiment have supported Canadian equity performance.
Investors appear increasingly willing to finance businesses associated with several dominant investment themes, including artificial intelligence, energy security, electrification, infrastructure development, and critical minerals.
Yet, despite these positive developments, the Canadian IPO market remains materially different from prior cycles. Historically, public markets represented the principal source of growth capital for scaling companies. Today, public markets compete directly with private capital providers possessing unprecedented financial resources. Large institutional investors that previously participated almost exclusively in public markets now routinely invest in private companies.
Are companies staying private longer before going public?
As a result, companies are remaining private longer and entering public markets later in their development cycle. The average IPO candidate in 2026 is generally larger, more mature, and more operationally sophisticated than its counterpart a decade earlier.
The consequence is a market characterized by fewer but larger offerings.
Why are institutional investors favouring the long-form IPO again?
The renewed interest in traditional IPOs should also be understood against the backdrop of the alternative listing structures that proliferated during the exceptionally accommodative capital markets of 2020 and 2021. Reverse takeovers (“RTOs“), qualifying transactions involving capital pool companies, and, particularly in the United States, special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs“), offered private companies an expedited path to the public markets at a time when capital was abundant and investor appetite appeared insatiable. In many cases, these go-public structures served legitimate commercial purposes and provided an efficient route to both capital and liquidity. However, the subsequent performance of a significant number of de-SPAC transactions and certain speculative RTO issuers materially altered investor sentiment. As valuations contracted and many newly public companies failed to achieve their business plans or projected financial performance, institutional investors became increasingly skeptical of transactions perceived to have reached the public markets without the rigorous scrutiny traditionally associated with a fully marketed IPO.
This shift in investor psychology has had important implications for Canadian issuers. Although Canadian securities law affords multiple pathways to becoming a reporting issuer, the long-form IPO continues to occupy a unique position within the market. Unlike an RTO or other alternative listing transaction, a conventional IPO requires the preparation of a comprehensive prospectus, extensive legal and financial due diligence, detailed regulatory review, institutional marketing through a roadshow, and the reputational endorsement of established underwriters willing to place their balance sheets and credibility behind the offering. Collectively, these elements perform a valuable signalling function. They provide prospective investors with confidence that the issuer has been subjected to extensive scrutiny by sophisticated market participants before the issuer’s securities are broadly and publicly distributed.
For many of Canada’s leading institutional investors, this distinction remains significant. While investment decisions ultimately depend upon the quality of the issuer rather than the mechanics of its listing, a long-form IPO frequently serves as an important indicator of governance maturity, disclosure discipline, and management preparedness. Institutions that are expected to deploy substantial amounts of long-term capital often view the IPO process itself as evidence that an issuer has successfully navigated the demanding legal, accounting, and governance standards expected of public companies. By contrast, issuers that access the market through alternative listing structures may find that they must earn this credibility over time through operational execution and sustained disclosure performance rather than inheriting it at the time of listing.
Accordingly, the renewed prominence of the long-form IPO in 2026 should not be viewed merely as a matter of regulatory procedure. Rather, it reflects a broader market preference for rigorous diligence, transparent disclosure, and institutional-quality governance after a period in which speed to market frequently appeared to take priority over public-company readiness. In a market increasingly defined by selectivity rather than speculation, the long-form IPO has re-emerged as the benchmark against which new public issuers are measured.
What does the TMX data tell us about IPO activity from 2020 to 2025?
Data from the TMX Group supports the notion that 2021 was the peak “everything can go public” year; 2022-2024 were a reset; 2025 showed renewed financing strength, but only with five true-operating-company IPOs across the TSX/TSXV. 2026 is showing activity, but much of the headline new-listing volume is still ETFs rather than traditional-issuer IPOs.
TMX’s data shows 449 new listings in 2021, including 237 companies, 88 CPCs and 4 SPACs; by 2022, total new listings fell to 274 and operating-company IPOs dropped from 53 to 17. The trough became more pronounced in 2023: only 3 operating-company IPOs across TSX/TSXV, despite 221 total new listings.
Mining remains the counterweight. The TMX reported 54 new listings in the mining sector in 2025, and the mining sector totalled 1,073 issuers across TSX/TSXV in 2025, with more than C$1.1 trillion in aggregate market capitalization for the mining sector. The TMX reported that C$16 billion in mining equity capital was raised by its listed issuers in 2025.
How can Miller Thomson help you?
Miller Thomson’s Mining Industry Group is a leading advisory team in Canada’s mining and mining finance markets, supporting clients across the lifecycle of mining projects and on complex, high-value transactions. The team is recognized for acting on significant capital markets financings, including large equity, debt, and hybrid transactions for underwriters, agents, institutional investors, and major mining companies, often involving cross-border offerings and strategic investments. Distinguished by its practical, hands-on approach, including regular site visits to mining operations and mineral properties, the group combines industry insight with strong relationships across Canadian and international investment banks.
Miller Thomson’s Capital Markets & Securities lawyers advise issuers, underwriters and boards across the full spectrum of public offerings, including IPOs, dual listings, and ongoing public-company compliance. Our team has extensive experience guiding companies through the legal, governance and regulatory demands of accessing Canadian and U.S. capital markets. To discuss how these developments may affect your business, contact our Capital Markets & Securities group.
