The large CIBC sign located outside the bank's Bay St. office building in downtown Toronto on Sept 13 2013.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
CIBC World Markets has filled its senior oil and gas analyst job, opting to promote an internal candidate for one of the highest-profile positions in Canadian energy research.
CIBC named Arthur Grayfer to the position, where he will be taking on coverage of the industry's biggest names, such as Encana Corp. and Suncor Energy Inc., over the next few months. He has covered junior and mid-cap oils at the bank since 2010 and prior to that he worked at Canaccord Genuity.
Before announcing that they had chosen Mr. Grayfer, CIBC talked to several top-ranked senior exploration and production analysts that are working at other dealers. The position has been vacant since July, when Andrew Potter left to take an executive job at Cenovus Energy Inc. The bank is taking the view that it already has a strong reputation in energy equities research and can maintain that by developing its in-house expertise.
Mr. Grayfer's promotion will result in a shuffle in coverage of the smaller oil and gas companies. Names he now follows will be split between Adam Gill, who currently covers juniors and intermediates, and Jeremy Kaliel, the energy dividend companies analyst.
It also means some added responsibilities for two of CIBC's research associates, Kyle Balaux and Nick Lupick, who will now take on coverage of some companies as analysts.
Mr. Grayfer's appointment caps a brisk summer of moves among analysts who cover Canadian oils, with arrivals or departures at Raymond James, Desjardins Securities Inc, Peters & Co. Ltd., AltaCorp Capital Inc., Jennings Capital, PI Financial and MGI Securities. The activity came against a backdrop of weak business in trading, mergers and acquisitions as well as financing related to the energy sector.
Jeffrey Jones