Billionaires Club – Access to Capital Markets Key
With the current global economic situation, the landscape for the weathy in Canada has still remained largely the same. We have the usual ultra weathly receiving their wealth through inheritance and success of previous generations such as the Thomson family and Irving family. We also have some that made it through the usual process of hard work and smart business skill such as Jimmy Pattison of Vancouver. As well, however, we also have a new comer in Dennis (Chip) Whilson who now appears on the list with the successful public share issue of his clothing store lululemon athletica.
Due to the favourable credit environment for the past decade, it was becoming increasingly easier for those versed in the ways of the capital markets to catapult themselves into the billionaires club but recently because of uncertainty in the U.S. only select few, such as Chip Wilson, are able to release their shares to the public and join the billionaires club. Some hedge funds in the U.S. have also gone public recently even though all factors point to the shares having a rough time in the markets. Some analysts suggest this is a growing belief in the U.S. that the environment might get worse and investors appetities for these investments may be even worse in 6 months and they should issue the shares anyways since they may not be able to issue them at all in 6 months. Fortress Investment Group and then Blackstone Group are two hedge funds that completed an IPO in 2007.
