“The TSX is the exchange where the investors and the capital markets who are geared to invest in resource-based companies and investments converge, much more so than on the Big Board in the U.S., or the Nasdaq,” said Dan Schochet, executive vice president, Ram Power, Corp. (RPG/TSX), a Nevada-based geothermal power company that listed on the TSX in October.

Mr. Schochet who described his dealings with the TSX as “marvellous” and the listing as “exceeding expectations,” said the decision to list on the TSX was initially driven by Ram Power’s acquisition of two TSX listed companies: Polaris Geothermal Inc. and Western GeoPower Corp.

Ram Power is one of 21 foreign cleantech companies to have listed on the TSX or TSX Venture Exchange. In the first nine months of 2009, the TSX and Venture Exchange completed 73 financings compared with 48 over the same period in 2008. The number of listed cleantech companies rose to 123 compared to 102 at the end of last year.

Ungad Chadda, senior vice president of the Toronto Stock Exchange said there were a lot more listings in the pipeline. He said the listing of Ram Power in October pushed the two exchanges above the $1 billion-mark in equity financing for the cleantech sector, a record which exceeded the value financed for full-year 2008 by 100%. The volume of cleantech shares traded on the two exchanges also increased this year, up 21% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2008.

“Our exchanges are number one in the world in mining and energy, and we are being viewed as the ideal financing markets for companies developing sustainable technologies and renewable power projects,” Mr. Chadda said. “We have made significant efforts in the cleantech sector and it is gratifying to see that Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange have become the listing and financing destination of choice for large and small cleantech businesses.”

He said the Toronto exchanges already had the highest number of listed cleantech companies in the world.

Source

SHAWN McCARTHY

OTTAWA — From Thursday’s Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 12:00AM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 2:36AM EDT

GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER

Source Globe and Mail

Investors are returning to the clean technology sector but with a sharper eye for risk and more demanding appetite for reward.

But as private investors move back into financing for renewable energy, efficiency and pollution-abatement companies, money is running out at the federal government’s flagship program for financing startup companies whose technologies offer reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Ottawa’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) – a linchpin for startups needing development capital – is scheduled to announce a $50-million round of company financings next month, virtually depleting its $350-million climate change/clean air fund.

The sector was hammered by the global economic meltdown as credit dried up and investors became increasingly risk-averse. Financing is now coming back – but with a somewhat chastened approach to the much-hyped technology sector. “There is a renewed interest on the part of financial institutions who had clean tech and carbon finance on their radar prior to the economic downturn,” said Douglas Clarke, a partner in the climate-change practice at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

Source Globe and Mail