Ali Pejman, a mining banker and part of Canaccord’s executive team, has tendered his resignation.
Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is parting ways with two senior investment bankers.
Ali Pejman, a mining banker and part of Canaccord's executive team, has tendered his resignation. Friday will be his last day at the independent brokerage.
"Ali played a significant role in the growth of our [public venture capital] business and made many contributions to our investment banking business," Pat Burke, president, capital markets Canada, at Canaccord, wrote in a memo that was sent to staff on Thursday.
"We thank him for his efforts and dedication, not to mention the flair, passion and style he brought to work every day."
Mr. Pejman, who was based in Vancouver, had been with Canaccord since 2000.
Last week, Canaccord also parted ways with Toronto-based mergers and acquisitions banker Rob Fedrock. Mr. Fedrock came to the brokerage with the 2010 acquisition of Genuity Capital Markets.
The departures at Canada's largest boutique brokerage are the latest in a series of high-profile exits in recent months.
Jens Mayer, co-head of investment banking, Andrew Jappy, head of information technology, Peter Virvilis, treasurer, and Scott Davidson, global head of corporate development, have all departed since the beginning of the year.
The shakeup at Canaccord has extended beyond its higher-ranked employees. In February, the company announced that it was cutting roughly 7 per cent of its global work force – with about half of the cuts coming in the British market. That same month, the company posted a $346-million quarterly loss, the steepest by far in its 12-year history as a publicly traded company.
In what has been a banner year for investment banking revenue in secondary stock offerings in Canada, Canaccord is struggling in a market where some other independents are outperforming. According to Bloomberg data, it is sitting in 24th place in the league tables that rank investment banks, with 0.08 per cent market share in stock offerings, one slot behind Paradigm Capital Inc. – a significantly smaller independent. In 2015, Canaccord ended in seventh place in the league tables, with 3-per-cent share.
By contrast, Calgary-based independents Peters & Co. Ltd. and FirstEnergy Capital Corp. have been in almost every large energy syndicate since the beginning of the year, and are placed seventh and ninth place respectively in the league tables year to date.
Niall McGee