A Bay Street sign, a symbol of Canada's economic markets and where main financial institutions are located, is seen in Toronto, May 1, 2013.Mark Blinch/Reuters
Cormark Securities Inc. has lost another key capital markets employee to the buy side. Investment banker Vay Tham is leaving the firm after an almost-six-year run. On Monday, he'll join the investment team at Forge First Asset Management.
Forge First was started in 2012 by Andrew McCreath, a serial Bay Street entrepreneur, former mutual fund manager and host with Business News Network (BNN). Mr. McCreath and Mr. Tham go way back.
"I've known this guy for basically 20 years. I hired him as a student and we worked together in a previous business," Mr. McCreath said in an interview.
"Now he's coming back and joining me after a bunch of years as an investment banker. That of course brings a different perspective to the team."
Mr. Tham was a founding partner at Waterfall Investments, an earlier hedge fund company also started by Mr. McCreath. Sentry Investments bought the firm in 2008. Post-Waterfall, Mr. Tham joined National Bank as an investment banker. In 2010, he moved to Cormark where he specialized in technology, media and industrials.
The departure of Mr.Tham comes a few weeks after Cormark lost an even longer-serving employee. Late last month, Sarah Hughes, a highly regarded equity analyst, who had been with the brokerage for 18 years, left to take a buy side position at Norrep Capital Management Ltd, an asset management and hedge fund company.
Cormark did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Canadian hedge fund sector trounced the broader Canadian equity markets last year. The Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index, which tracks funds with assets under management of at least $15-million that have been around for a year or more, was up 6 per cent in 2015, on an asset-weighted basis, as of Nov. 30 (the last time data was released). On an equal-weighted basis, the same index was up 1 per cent. The S&P/TSX Composite was down 7.5 per cent during the same time frame.
Forge First, which has $120-million under management, was among the best performing Canadian hedge fund companies last year. The firm's Long Short fund was up 15 per cent in 2015. Mr. Tham is the second high-profile hire for the firm in the past six months. Last year, the firm snapped up Bay Street veteran David Jarvis to be its chief compliance and risk officer.
Niall McGee