Royal Bank of Canada’s asset-management arm said last Wednesday it had reopened its Phillips, Hager & North High Yield Bond Fund to new investors, two years after closing it amid strong investor demand. The move comes as Canadian companies increasingly tap debt markets to finance acquisitions and lock in borrowing costs. (The Logic)

Talking point: Fund manager Hanif Mamdani told Bloomberg the firm is favouring bonds backed by companies with hard assets, while stronger M&A activity is driving demand for term debt as companies look beyond bank loans and revolving credit facilities. Canadian bonds accounted for 85.2 per cent of the fund, as of June 30, with another 6.7 per cent held in cash and other assets. Its largest disclosed holdings included debt from Telus and Bell Canada, while bonds from TD Bank, Inter Pipeline, TransCanada PipeLines and Brookfield Property Finance also ranked among its top 10 investments. Meanwhile, IBM is reportedly raising $2.75 billion through its first Canadian-dollar bond sale since 2012, adding to a record year for debt issuance in the currency by foreign companies.  

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