Canadian dealers prowling New York for talent

If you are a talented NYC-based player at Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch, you probably already know that many of the Canadian investment dealers with New York offices are hunting for you this very minute. While the Canadian banks aren’t interested in doing a major U.S. acquisition right now, there is much discussion today about their interest in picking up some the talent that is shaking loose on Wall Street following a very tense weekend. These Canadian investment dealers are looking to either to build out a new line of business, or to upgrade a role that is currently filled by a “B-level Player”. Even investment bankers are being sought, despite the bleak equity pipeline and absence of jumbo M&A deals.

Canaccord Adams and RBC Capital Markets are two of the firms mentioned by one source, but CIBC World Markets is also in this mix, despite having sold their U.S. investment bank to Oppenheimer earlier this year (see prior post “CIBC exits U.S. i-banking business: Wow” November 4-07).

Silver lining time for some.

MRM