There were lots of small deals, but few blockbusters, in the Canadian merger and acquisition market for the first quarter.

M&A activity looks relatively flat in the first quarter, with the number of deals almost unchanged at 203 compared with 200 in the same period last year, according to Toronto-based investment bank Crosbie & Co. The combined value of those deals is notably stronger than it was a year ago, rising to $23.5 billion from $14.4 billion. It is also up modestly from $20.4 billion in the fourth quarter.

Crosbie says that increased average deal size, strong cross-border activity, and plenty of action in the REIT and trust markets is driving the increase. “We are seeing continuing signs of a solid base in the M&A market. Activity is broadly based and there is a general increase in average transaction sizes for deals under $1 billion,” said Colin Walker, partner at Crosbie.

There were138 deals in the sub-$1 billion range, totalling $15.6 billion in value. However, there were only four “mega-deals”, worth over $1 billion. Mega deals contributed just 34% of the value in the first quarter, down from 45% to 68% in recent years.

Cross-border action remains strong. There were 100 such deals in the quarter, worth $13.8 billion, up from 91 deals worth $9.9 billion in the same period last year. Canadian companies are buying U.S. firms at a two-to-one rate, versus deals going the other way.

Crosbie says that industrial products, oil and gas and real estate were the hottest sectors. The energy and real estate deals were both driven by strong action in the trust area. There were also numerous deals in the gold, pipelines and utilities groups.