Canada saw 1,068 merger and acquisition transactions worth a total of $227 billion between July 1 and Nov. 30, marking a “modest uptick” in activity, according to a PwC report released Tuesday. Overall deal value was up 34 per cent in the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier. (The Logic)

Talking point: The professional services firm said it expects M&A to increase steadily in the first half of 2025. But uncertainty around U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from Canada may be delaying transactions, it said. There could, however, be an uptick in deals involving Canadian companies establishing outposts in the U.S. to avoid losing market share, the report noted. PwC also highlighted low productivity as a drag on the industry. Boosting M&A could help drive productivity by, for example, rolling up companies in a specific sector and applying new technologies to make them more efficient, according to the report’s authors.