Thank you very much for your question.
I guess a few things have happened. First, there has been consolidation both in the retail sector and in other sectors of the business. Second, some have dropped out entirely, and previously active players are no longer around.
Third, what's driving much of the activity is the inability of funds to raise capital. If you take your typical venture capital fund that's out there raising a fund of $100 million from pension funds, from institutional investors, he or she can knock on six doors in Canada. If they all say no, then there's nowhere to go except outside these borders, and that's a process that can take well over a year. Also, you have to maintain an office and infrastructure, everything to run your business, and still raise capital.
So a number of our funds that I know of have simply given up the ghost. They can't raise the capital and are exiting the business. They are managing down their portfolios, and when they get a return, they will wind down.
My counterparts in the United States are predicting a contraction of between 25% and 30% in the American venture capital world. They are facing some of the issues that we are. They're not as acute and they didn't face them quite as early, but that's what they will be going through.