Leede Insights for 07/28/25

Wealth Management

First National Financial Corporation  (TSX: FN, FN.PR.A, FN.PR.B) announced that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement  with Regal Bidco Inc. (the "Purchaser"), a newly-formed acquisition vehicle controlled by private equity funds managed by Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc. and private equity funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management, whereby the Purchaser will acquire all of the outstanding common shares  of the Company, other than the Rollover Shares, for $48.00 per Share in cash.

• As part of the Transaction, the Company's founders, Stephen Smith and Moray Tawse (together with their associates and affiliates, the "Rolling Shareholders"), who currently hold approximately 37.4% and 34.0%, respectively, of the outstanding Shares, will each sell approximately two-thirds of their current shareholdings in the Company for the same cash consideration per Share as other shareholders, and have agreed to exchange their remaining Shares (the "Rollover Shares") for ownership interests in the Purchaser.

• As a result, on closing of the Transaction, Messrs. Smith and Tawse are each expected to maintain an indirect approximate 19% interest in First National, with Birch Hill and Brookfield holding the remaining approximate 62% interest.

• The Transaction is not subject to any financing condition and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to obtaining the required shareholder, court and regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

• The Purchase Price represents a premium of approximately 15.2% and 22.8% to the 30 and 90-trading day volume weighted average trading price, respectively, of the Shares on the TSX on July 25, 2025, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the Transaction.

• The Purchase Price implies an aggregate total equity value of approximately $2.9 billion, inclusive of the Rollover Shares, and values the Company at a 16.5x price-to-earnings multiple based on the Company's reported trailing twelve months net income attributable to common shareholders as of March 31, 2025.

  
  

iA Financial Corporation Inc. (TSX: IAG) and RF Capital Group Inc. (TSX: RCG) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement, pursuant to which iA will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of RF Capital for $20.00 per share in cash.

• RF Capital is an independent wealth management company based in Canada, operating under the Richardson Wealth brand.

• Adding more than $40B in assets under administration and enhancing presence in the high-net-worth segment

• Purchase price of $597 million includes a $370 million valuation for RF Capital's fully diluted equity³ and $227 million in financial obligations (revolving debt and preferred shares)

• Acquisition expected to be neutral to core earnings in the first year and to be accretive to core EPS of at least $0.15 in the second year

  
  

Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX: K) has sold an aggregate of 23,681,160 common shares of White Gold Corp., (TSXV: WGO) representing all of the common shares held by Kinross

• The shares represent approximately 12% of the outstanding White Gold common shares.

• The shares were sold at an average sales price of 29 cents (excluding commission), representing an aggregate sale price of $6,869,905.51.

Speculative Stocks

Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX: EQX) provided an update from the exploration campaign at its producing El Limon Mine Complex in Nicaragua.

• Initial results of the planned 100,000 metres of discovery and resource expansion diamond drilling at El Limon in 2025 have yielded the highest-grade gold mineralization discovered to date on the property, demonstrating significant potential to extend the mineralized corridor to both the north and west of the existing producing deposits.

       El Limon Highlight Drill Results 

• 36.77 grams per tonne gold ("g/t Au") over 6.9 metres estimated true width ("ETW") (EL-TMR-25-036)

• 13.93 g/t Au over 2.7 metres ETW (LIM-24-5088), 17.85 g/t Au over 3.2 metres ETW (EL-TMR-25-016)

• 22.18 g/t Au over 4.4 metres ETW (EL-TMR-25-031), 8.45 g/t Au over 3.2 metres ETW (EL-TMR-25-021)

• 13.47 g/t Au over 4.5 metres ETW (EL-TLV-25-1704), 4.55 g/t Au over 5.2 metres ETW (EL-BAB-25-150)

• 10.19 g/t Au over 6.0 metres ETW (EL-TLV-25-1706), 5.46 g/t Au over 5.0 metres ETW (EL-TLV-25-1705)

• 8.55 g/t Au over 14.6 metres ETW (EL-BAB-25-121), 27.39 g/t Au over 1.9 metres ETW (EL-TMR-25-041)

• 12.71 g/t Au over 3.7 metres ETW (EL-TLV-25-1710)

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 NetraMark Holdings Inc. (CSE: AIAI) an artificial intelligence (AI) company transforming clinical trials and AlgoTherapeutix SAS (private) ("AlgoTx"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class therapies for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) announced they have entered into an agreement.

• Under this agreement, NetraMark will deploy its NetraAI platform to analyze patient-level data from AlgoTx’s ATX01 program.

• NetraAI’s unique technology will enable deep exploration of drug and placebo response variables, identification of responder personas, and delivery of enrichment strategies to inform the design of future ATX01 trials.

• AlgoTx has established itself as a forward-thinking innovator committed to improving the lives of patients suffering from CIPN, with non opioid solutions. 

  
  

 ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: PMN, a clinical-stage biotechnology company committed to discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies targeting toxic misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzhiemer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), announced that it has entered into a purchase agreement  with existing institutional and accredited investors to issue and sell an aggregate of approximately $3.0 million of warrants.

• The Warrants were sold at a price of $0.1875 per share through a private investment in public equity (“PIPE”) financing.

• The Warrants have an exercise price of $1.25 per Warrant Share, are immediately exercisable and will expire five years from the date of initial issuance.

• The PIPE financing included participation from existing institutional investors, including Ally Bridge Group.

• ProMIS anticipates the gross proceeds from the PIPE financing to be approximately $3.0 million, before deducting fees and other offering expenses payable by the Company.

• In conjunction with the proceeds from the exercise of existing warrants, the total gross proceeds to the Company inclusive of the PIPE Offering will be approximately $12.0 million.

• The PIPE financing is expected to close on July 29, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

• Proceeds from the PIPE financing are expected to be used to advance the clinical development of PMN310, ProMIS’ lead therapeutic candidate, as well as for working capital and other general corporate expenses.

  
  

 Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV:PGE) announced that as a result of increased demand, the follow-on non-brokered private placement financing previously announced on July 15, 2025 will now consist of up to 1,646,380 units at a price of C$0.23 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $378,667.40, with each unit consisting of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, and each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one common share at a price of C$0.34 for a period of thirty-six (36) months from the date of issuance.

• The Additional Offering follows closing of the $7 million brokered LIFE offering, as announced July 15, 2025, and will include officers of the Company among others ahead of Glencore's anticipated participation.

• The securities sold pursuant to the Additional Offering will not be issued in reliance on the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption and will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the closing of such offering.

• No finders' fees are payable on any portion of the Additional Offering.

• The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Additional Offering for the exploration and advancement of the Company's flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co+Au project in the Stillwater mining district in Montana, U.S., for a lesser exploration program at its Kluane critical minerals project in Yukon, Canada, and for general corporate purposes and working capital.

  
  

Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd. ( TSXV:VPT) announced

• It has received the first purchase order from Lishman Global Inc. for VMS+ technology to be used within its echocardiography image platform in the People’s Republic of China.  

• Lishman will use the technology within six hybrid echocardiography systems built to support technology demonstration, clinical validation, and regulatory submission to the China Food and Drug Administration.

Charts of the Day

Economics

What to expect this week We’re expecting the Bank of Canada to leave the overnight rate unchanged again on Wednesday, while Thursday’s May’s gross domestic product (GDP) report for Canada will likely show a larger 0.2% decline, though most of it is expected to have reversed in June.

Manufacturing activity likely remains soft from ongoing trade disruptions, but we expect the bulk of May’s GDP decline could be attributed to a sharp decline in oil production, as wildfires in Alberta significantly disrupted operations.

Retail activity was also soft, dragged down by lower auto sales that reversed earlier gains in March and April when consumers pulled purchases forward to front-run tariffs.

Losses from both factors – lower retail purchases and oil production – are expected to have at least partially recovered in June. Statistics Canada’s preliminary estimate was for a 1.6% increase in nominal retail sales in June following the 1.1% May decline. Additionally, rebuilding efforts following natural disasters could also have supported GDP growth in other sectors.

On a quarterly basis, Q2 GDP growth is tracking close to flat— aligning with the more optimistic of the two scenarios the BoC projected in its April forecast. In its last Monetary Policy Report, the central bank took the unusual step of not providing a base case growth forecast but scenario analysis, given the enormous uncertainty tied to international trade at the time.

We’ll be watching Wednesday’s MPR closely for new projections but don’t expect any surprises regarding the decision to hold the overnight rate steady. The BoC has remained on the sidelines for the past two meetings after cutting the overnight rate by 225 basis points

since June 2024.

What’s holding the Bank of Canada back

Trade tensions remain heightened and economic data is still soft. However, the Canadian labour market showed signs of bottoming out in June, and sentiment indicators, which took a nosedive in March, have also partially recovered.

Critically for Canada, CUSMA exemptions are allowing the vast majority of Canadian goods exports to enter the U.S. duty-free. Echoing business reports from the latest Bank of Canada outlook survey, we continue to consider the most severe economic scenarios as less probable than earlier in spring, and expect the economy will remain soft over the second half of this year but won’t contract.

More unnerving for the Bank of Canada are recent inflation reports that have surprised broadly to the upside. Its preferred core measures have edged higher in 2025, driven mostly by building pressures among domestic services components. This contradicts earlier expectations that softening in domestic demand would lead to further disinflation and easing in core inflation.

Overall, sticky inflation readings, a weakening but relatively resilient economic backdrop and prospects for larger fiscal spending are reasons why we do not expect the Bank of Canada will cut again in this cycle.

Source: RBC Economics Research

Markets

Top ten biggest companies impact on the S&P 599  

If you had invested $1 million in the S&P 500 on January 1, 2021, your return today would be $660,000, of which more than half would have come from the top 10 biggest companies in the index.

The bottom line is that returns in the S&P 500 are not diversified but instead remain extremely concentrated in a small group of tech stocks.

AI will continue to have a dramatic impact on all our lives, but the question remains whether the Magnificent 7 are correctly priced, and if they will even be the best AI investments over the next five to ten years.

Note: Top 10 companies are NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Broadcom, Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway, JP Morgan.

Sources: Bloomberg, Apollo Chief Economist