Answers
How does a reverse takeover (RTO) work in Canada?
The answer
In a Canadian RTO, a private company combines with an existing listed entity and its shareholders take control, making the private business public without a conventional IPO. Executed well it is faster and more cost-certain than an IPO; the decisive diligence is on the listed vehicle itself.
Canada's TSX and TSXV have made the RTO a standard, well-supervised route — and remain structurally the most open senior exchanges in the world for frontier-sector listings. The route suits companies with the substance for public ownership that value speed and certainty over the marketing moment of an IPO.
The craft is in the vehicle: its history, liabilities, and shareholder base are inherited on close, which is why an adviser's RTO record matters more than its pitch. GDA runs this practice from Toronto, its home market.