Cenovus Energy annual general meeting in Calgary on April 24, 2013.Chris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
Andrew Potter, who recently left CIBC World Markets as senior energy analyst, has signed on as an executive with oil sands producer Cenovus Energy Inc., he said on Sunday, ending speculation in financial and energy circles about where he had landed.
Mr. Potter's departure from the bank has contributed to a round of musical chairs among research analysts covering Canadian energy at a time when business has been weak due to a dearth of merger activity and financings. Movements have also included layoffs and the closing down of a few Calgary shops, such as Stonecap Securities, which sent analysts to rival firms.
In his new role as senior business adviser at Cenovus, Mr. Potter will report to the company's chief financial officer, Ivor Ruste, on issues involving market access, portfolio management, strategy and capital markets activities, he said in an e-mail.
When he left CIBC, where he had been ranked the No. 2 oil and gas – large cap analyst in the 2012 Brendan Wood International survey, the talk among dealers and portfolio managers in Calgary was that he had joined either Cenovus or MEG Energy Corp. "Sorry to all those that wagered I was joining MEG!" he wrote as a post script.
CIBC is interviewing potential replacements for Mr. Potter, and the aim is for candidates with well-established credibility with major investors, given the profile of the sector and its importance to the bank, a financial-industry source said. That leaves a limited list of names.
A CIBC spokesman said the bank would not talk about the process until it has a new analyst in the chair.
Following Mr. Potter's departure, Ian Macqueen, who covered international energy producers, also left CIBC.
Elsewhere in downtown Calgary, Raymond James is in the market for a pair of analysts after Justin Bouchard and Kristopher Zack were poached by Desjardins Securities Inc. in July to be co-heads of energy research. A Raymond James official declined to comment on the search, though a source said there was the potential for the hiring of another two-person team.
Adding to the hiring binge, Peters & Co. Ltd. is interviewing for a small and mid cap energy analyst following the departure earlier this year of Adam Twa.
(Jeffrey Jones is a Globe and Mail Business Reporter.)
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Jeffrey Jones