TORONTO, Sept 26Reuters A recent C4.6 billion capital raise by Enbridge and a raft of new U.S. deals have spurred optimism for a revival in Canadian equity capital markets ECM issuance, bankers and lawyers said.

Enbridge39;s jumbo equity sale to finance a portion of its acquisition of three utilities from Dominion Energy propelled Canadian ECM issuance to a twoyear high of C6.7 billion 5 billion in the third quarter of this year, according to data from Refinitiv.

I think there is evidence out there that for the right transaction for the right reasons, investors will show up, said François Carrier, cohead of Desjardins Capital Markets.

We39;re certainly in our team talking about a progressive opening of market between now and the end of the year and we39;re certainly more optimistic going into 2024 in terms of what is achievable, he added.

Canadian ECM issuance hit a morethan 22year low of C13 billion in 2022 and IPOs in Canada fell to a threeyear low in 2022 to C1.6 billion and are at C201.7 million for the first six months of the year, according to Refinitiv data.

Hopes of a revival have, however, increased in recent weeks after a flurry of new large offerings in the Unite States, and Enbridge39;s deal.

Marketing automation firm Klaviyo, Arm Holdings and Instacart all debuted recently to strong initial demand. On Monday, Enbridge39;s shares were trading some 1.8 higher than the price they were placed at on Sept. 8.

That has encouraged market participants to hope…