TORONTO, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Canadian securities regulators
want to change the rules on takeover defenses to make it more
difficult for hostile bidders to buy Canadian companies, aiming
to set up a national framework for dealing with corporate
raiders, according to regulatory officials and lawyers briefed
on the matter.

The plan, due to be published in draft form on March 14, is
designed to bring more coherence to Canada’s regulatory regime
after provincial regulators have issued contrasting rulings on
so-called “poison pill” defenses in recent takeover bids, the
sources said.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Telus Corp (T.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), one of Canada’s three biggest telecom companies, reported a 23 percent rise in quarterly profit on Friday, helped by strength in its wireless business and a surprising burst of growth from its fixed-line unit.

Telus shares rose to their highest-ever level on Friday as the Vancouver company also gave a robust outlook for the current year.

TORONTO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Rogers Communications Inc
, Canada’s largest wireless company, posted a 30
percent rise in adjusted quarterly profit, increased its
dividend, and said its chief executive would leave the company
early next year.

A successor was not named for CEO Nadir Mohamed, who will
retire in January 2014. He has led the company since the death
of Ted Rogers, the broadcast and telecommunications company’s
founder, four years ago.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Half of Canada’s primary dealers have recently pushed back forecasts for the timing of the central bank’s next interest rate hike, a Reuters poll showed on Friday after weak jobs and housing starts data suggested the economy will struggle in 2013.

The economic figures released on Friday were the latest in a string of dismal indicators. Earlier reports had prompted the Bank of Canada to say on January 23 that a rate hike would be further in the future than it had once thought.

TORONTO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar slid to a
one-week low on Friday after data showed Canada unexpectedly
lost jobs in January and housing starts were much lower than
forecast, spurring traders to reduce bets that interest rates
would go up this year.

Canada’s economy shed 21,900 jobs last month, a sharp
pullback from several months of oversized gains. Separate data
showed Canada posted a record trade deficit last year and
housing starts hit their lowest since mid-2009, when the market
was sideswiped by the global financial crisis.

TORONTO, Feb 7 (Reuters) – BCE Inc, parent of Bell
Canada and the country’s biggest telecom provider, reported
higher quarterly profit and raised its dividend on Thursday as
its wireless and media divisions boosted the bottom line.

But the company, which together with Rogers Communications
Inc and Telus Corp dominates the Canadian
market, said it expected revenue to grow by 2 percent at the
most this year, compared with 3 percent growth in 2012. It said
it sees earnings for 2013 rising slightly.

TORONTO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – TMX Group Ltd, operator of
the Toronto Stock Exchange, reported better-than-expected
profit for the first full quarter since a group of Canadian
financial institutions took control, even as sluggish trading
and listing activity limited growth.

Shares rose as much as 4.2 percent to C$57.82, the highest
level in the exchange operator’s 10-year history.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian hedge funds will likely remain more boutique than big box in the future, as lack of scale, poor returns and difficulty accessing big investors weigh down growth.

Helped by start-ups in and around Toronto’s financial district, the Canadian industry is estimated to manage more than C$30 billion ($29.73 billion), up from about $15 billion four years ago.

TORONTO, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Canadian hedge funds will likely
remain more boutique than big box in the future, as lack of
scale, poor returns and difficulty accessing big investors weigh
down growth.

Helped by start-ups in and around Toronto’s financial
district, the Canadian industry is estimated to manage more than
C$30 billion ($29.73 billion), up from about $15 billion four
years ago.

TORONTO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar tumbled to
trade for less than equal value with the U.S. dollar on
Wednesday after the Bank of Canada held interest rates steady
and said a future rate hike was “less imminent” as it reduced
its growth forecasts.

The plunge to a two-month low came after the central bank
dramatically revised its growth assumptions and said the
Canadian economy likely grew by 1 percent annualized in the
fourth quarter, after initially predicting 2.5 percent growth.