A resilient Canadian economy is drawing levels of private equity investment not seen since 2008 and attracting global technology giants like Google (GOOG.O), Groupon and Microsoft (MSFT.O). Experts say technological innovation is blurring the traditional lines between venture capital, which typically invests in early stage technologies, and private equity, which is crossing increasingly into the sector that in Canada helped give birth to companies like Research In Motion (RIM.TO), maker of the BlackBerry smartphone. "When you have the major large-cap, technology companies in North America sitting on $500 billion in cash reserves, and with very aggressive growth plans for their own businesses, in an environment that is changing at light speed, they can't get there just by their own research and corporate development efforts, so they need to get there through acquisitions," said Steve Hnatiuk, chairman of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association's annual conference. The CVCA's meeting in Vancouver this week is attracting a record 600-plus participants, who between them represent hundreds of billions of dollars in investment capital.
Shares of GOOG remained unchanged at $518.26. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $433.63 and as high as $642.96. On average, 2774120 shares of GOOG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
Shares of MSFT remained unchanged at $24.15. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $22.73 and as high as $29.46. On average, 62417000 shares of MSFT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
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