The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, Sept. 29, edition that a buoyant Canadian stock market helped Enbridge launch a friendly offer to buy Spectra Energy. The Post's Jim Middlemiss writes that instead of spending $37-billion in cash, Enbridge used its shares as currency to pay for Spectra. Under the deal, each share of Spectra is worth 0.984 of the combined company, valuing Spectra shares at $40.33 (U.S.), and providing its shareholders with an 11.5-per-cent premium. The combined company's enterprise value is pegged at $165-billion (U.S.). "I hope this is the start of Canadian acquirers looking southbound and it opens the floodgates. We've got a perfect storm here," says Toronto lawyer Peter Hong, referring to a Canadian stock market that has performed well this year, with a year-to-date return of more than 10 per cent. Mr. Hong says, "It makes it attractive for Canadian buyers looking south to use their stock, rather than cash, to buy their U.S. targets." Another alternative is to use stock as part of the payment, which is what CIBC did when it announced in late June it was buying PrivateBancorp for $4.9-billion (U.S.). It financed about 40 per cent of the deal using its shares.