Views From the Market

Hosted by Stikeman Elliott

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Episodes

161

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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About the show

Stikeman Elliott provides creative Canadian legal services to clients around the world. In this series of 15-minute podcasts on private equity and midmarket M&A, with a focus on Canada, a wide range of industry participants discuss the deal market trends that they’ve been seeing. The host and originator of the series is Mario Nigro, M&A partner at Stikeman Elliott in Toronto. Read more about Mario Nigro: https://bit.ly/3IkJsPJ 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn for more insights 🔗 For more information and resources, visit stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 11, 202615 min

Episode 161 - The M&A Club: Connecting Canada’s Dealmakers

Ugo Dionne, President of M&A Club Canada, joins Mario Nigro to discuss his organization’s role in Canada’s M&A ecosystem. He explains how the Club, with 20 chapters across Canada, brings together M&A service providers for monthly meetings at which they can share deal opportunities, discuss trends, and build trust-based networks. Recent “hot topics” at M&A Club sessions include the challenge of getting business owners to prepare for exits earlier and the impact of tariff, interest rate, and geopolitical uncertainty on Canadian dealmaking. Ugo also highlights the Club’s new Academy, offering training programs in partnership with McGill University, and plans for international expansion to New York, London, and Paris. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

May 28, 202620 min

Episode 160 - Incorruptible: Eric Ries Discusses His Latest Book

In this episode, Eric Ries joins Mario Nigro to discuss his latest book, Incorruptible. The book’s thesis is that the business world’s focus on shareholder primacy and profit extraction is inconsistent with the interests of the businesses themselves. Because purpose-driven companies outperform extractive companies, buyers should diligence intangibles such as ethos, pricing restraint and employee loyalty – not just balance sheets. In Eric’s experience, sellers of purpose-driven businesses often prefer bidders that commit to maintaining their legacy over higher bids from extractive buyers. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

April 30, 202615 min

Episode 159 - Valuation and Due Diligence in an Age of Uncertainty

Joining Mario Nigro for this episode is Mackenzie Regent, co-founder of Kalos, a boutique transaction advisory firm providing financial due diligence and valuation for midmarket deals across North America. They discuss how global uncertainty is affecting midmarket deals, where resources for diligence deep-dives are often limited. According to Mackenzie, recent systemic shocks are interrupting deal flow, but generally only briefly, because advisors have become adept at structuring earnouts and other valuation bridges that blunt the impact of global uncertainty. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

April 16, 202620 min

Episode 158 - Private Equity with a Hard Hat: Investing in Canada’s Trades-Based Businesses

Jeffrey McCain of Woodward Capital joins Mario Nigro to discuss his firm’s evolution from traditional self-funded search into a broader investing platform participating across the capital stack (including LP positions in institutional funds and equity-gap situations). Jeff describes Woodward’s focus on trades-based businesses. HVAC, in particular, is attractive in light of the industry’s inherent stability, the frequency of succession-driven founder sales, and the ability to compound value through operational improvements. Jeff also provides an overview of the slightly different focus of JSM Capital, a new family office, which targets majority investments in infrastructure services platforms in the $5-15 million EBITDA range with a long-term hold strategy. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

April 2, 202611 min

Episode 157 - Canadian PE Markets: 2026 Deal Trends

George Sabbouh of Stifel Financial joins Mario Nigro for an enlightening discussion on the state of the deal market in Canada. After an uneven “K-shaped” recovery in 2025, George is seeing strong momentum in certain sectors – metals and mining, business services, infrastructure services, and waste management – amid continuing buyer hesitancy in tariff-exposed sectors such as manufacturing. Broader market trends include increasing diligence around AI disruption risk, which is emerging as a major concern in the marketplace. Looking ahead, Sabbouh expects 2026 to strengthen with easing rates, an IPO rebound, significant dry powder, and alternative exit tools such as continuation vehicles and dividend recaps. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

March 19, 202614 min

Episode 156 - Disciplined M&A: A Growth Strategy for a Family-Owned Business

Ezio Bondi of Bondi Produce & Specialty Foods joins Mario Nigro to discuss the M&A-driven growth of his Ontario-based food distribution business. Ezio highlights the roles that operational discipline, early adoption of technology, and a clear integration playbook have played in Bondi’s success. In a fragmented produce-distribution market, Bondi’s M&A strategy leverages its roots as a small family-owned business to address potential sellers’ legacy-protection concerns. Mario and Ezio also discuss Bondi’s decision to fund acquisitions directly from its balance sheet – a reflection of its philosophy of control and capital discipline. Ezio remains confident in the resilience of the produce sector and sees significant opportunity as older owner operators look to exit over the coming decade. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

March 5, 202614 min

Episode 155 - Fund Structures in Canada’s Midmarket: What’s New and What’s Coming

Jeffrey Elliott, a partner in Stikeman Elliott’s funds and securities regulatory practice, joins Mario Nigro to discuss the evolution of private equity fund structures in Canada. While the classic single-fund structure and traditional “2 and 20” model are still intact, sponsors are increasingly using more complex arrangements, including co-investment vehicles, GP-led secondaries, open-ended or long-duration funds, and continuation vehicles in which an asset is rolled over to a new investor base. The discussion explores the growth of midmarket fund formation in Canada, including funds of search funds and emerging “holdco” structures that resemble fund vehicles but focus on narrower strategies. Looking ahead, Jeffrey expects continued growth in long-term hold strategies and increased secondary market activity as investor liquidity needs evolve. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

February 19, 202619 min

Episode 154 - Canada’s Venture and Growth Equity Evolution: Rising to Today’s Challenges

Join Mario Nigro and Senia Rapisarda, Managing Director of HarbourVest Canada, for a discussion of Canada’s changing venture, growth and private equity landscape. Senia and HarbourVest have become a significant presence in the Canadian market, with $1.2 billion in investments focused on the technology, climate tech and life sciences sectors. Key challenges for Canada’s entrepreneurs, in Senia’s view, include building large, enduring Canadian champions, overcoming the shortage of domestic growth capital, and encouraging a culture of repeat entrepreneurship. Looking ahead, Senia believes that geopolitical uncertainty will prompt Canadian entrepreneurs to pursue global opportunities, fostering a more balanced and internationally connected business sector. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

February 5, 202618 min

Episode 153 - Patience, Purpose and the Personal Touch: Lessons from the Founders of GoodCapital

In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with Adrian Bartha and Quinten Griffiths, founding partners of GoodCapital, about their approach to midmarket private equity. GoodCapital was built on a high involvement, hands on model that influences everything from deal selection to post acquisition engagement and is informed by Quinten and Adrian’s own experiences as business owners and acquirers. While not exclusively tied to the proprietary deal model, its four acquisitions to date have been sourced internally from the founders’ extensive networks. This underscores the firm’s core belief that deep and longstanding personal relationships are the key to success in any economic environment. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket

January 22, 202619 min

Episode 152 - CollectiveXP: Investing Capital and Tech Expertise in Canada’s Midmarket

David Au-Yeung and Victor Wong join Mario Nigro to discuss CollectiveXP, which provides investment and advisory services in Canada’s lower midmarket. After exiting Flipp, a VC-backed tech startup that achieved revenues over $100 million, David and Victor decided to use their skills, connections and capital to work with other investors. CollectiveXP’s philosophy centres on relationship building, early collaboration with founders, and leveraging real-world experience to apply technology – including AI – to drive growth in midmarket businesses across all sectors. CollectiveXP typically makes minority investments, with flexibility for majority stakes. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. 🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp 🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket