On Sept. 20, the Canadian dollar, known as the "loonie" for the fowl that adorns it, became equal in value to the American dollar.It was a moment of pride for our polite brethren to the north - the last time the loonie hit parity was 1976 but more important, it meant a 30% discount for anything bought in U.S. dollars compared with four years ago. In recent weeks, the U.S. has been looking like Canada's answer to Mexico: Citizens from the Great White North have been traveling south to gobble up everything from steak dinners to multibillion-dollar banks on the cheap.
The most voracious shopper so far has been Ed Clark, CEO of Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank (Charts). Days after the currencies hit par, his company said it would pick up New Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp (Charts) for $8.5 billion. That must have seemed like a fire-sale price: Clark began talks in June, when the loonie was worth 90 cents to our dollar; by the time he unveiled the deal, the price had dropped by $1 billion Canadian.
"All the planets perfectly aligned to bring this deal to fruition," a giddy Clark told investors in a conference call.
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