Canadian M&A activity hits highest since financial crisis in January-September

By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian merger and acquisition activity in the first nine months of the year touched their highest level since the financial crisis, buoyed by several big-ticket deals across a range of sectors, data from Thomson Reuters showed on Thursday. M&A deal value jumped 17 percent to $209.7 billion in the period, up from $178.9 billion from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data. It was the best first nine months since 2007. Full-year figures will be available in January. Morgan Stanley , Barclays Plc and Royal Bank of Canada were the top three advisers for Canadian M&A in the period, followed by Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan and Bank of Montreal . CIBC took the third position among Canadian banks. The biggest deal of the year so far is Enbridge Inc's planned acquisition of Spectra Energy Corp at about $28 billion (C$37 billion). A move by Canadian fertilizer producers Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc and Agrium Inc to combine in a merger of equals was another highlight. "Investors in the market broadly are strongly endorsing these deals. People are very supportive of strategic M&A," said Derek Neldner, RBC's head of Canadian investment banking, who noted that there were several transformational deals this year. "Fundamentally we find M&A activity is driven by confidence - board of director and management confidence," he added. RBC helped advise Potash Corp in its deal with Agrium, and Enbridge in its deal with Spectra. After a lull in recent quarters, the traditional driver of Canadian deal activity - mining and resource M&A - has begun to pick up. "We're starting to see a slow but steady rebound in the resource sectors, and that generally leads to more M&A and fundraising," said Bruce Rothney, chief executive of Barclays Canada. "There's some evidence of a turning point in mining and, to a degree, oil and gas." Barclays advised Agrium and Spectra on their respective blockbuster deals. Other highlights of the year include TransCanada's $10.2 billion acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group and Fortis Inc's proposed $11.3 billion purchase of ITC Holdings Corp , which is expected to close by the end of the year. (Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)