Royal Bank of Canada has shaken up its investment banking team, promoting its long-time mining chief, Gordon Bell, to vice-chairman of capital markets and laying off the mining group's managing director.
As the bank's global head of mining and metals for 15 years, Mr. Bell helped the company expand during the decade-long bull market in commodities. He oversaw an active file, including some of the biggest mining deals.
Mr. Bell has been replaced by Ryan Latinovich, a managing director with the bank's equity capital markets group.
The bank's managing director of mining, David Shaver, has been laid off in the shuffle, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Shaver could not immediately be reached for comment. RBC had no comment.
Mr. Bell is responsible for senior client relationships with the bank's mining clients, as well as providing advice on corporate strategy, debt and equity financing, according to RBC's website.
The shakeup comes amid a prolonged downturn in metals and minerals. Gold has rebounded slightly this year, underpinning equity raises for gold companies – though the pace of mining deals has slowed considerably since the boom years.
This year, RBC has worked on a number of mining deals, including Goldcorp Inc.'s $500-million acquisition of a Yukon gold project.
RBC and other Canadian banks have had to hustle for mining business after most of the country's largest mining companies – Inco Ltd., Alcan Inc. and Falconbridge Ltd. – were gobbled up during the commodities boom.
Barrick Gold Corp., the world's biggest gold producer, has been responsible for a good chunk of the deal work during this downturn. But although RBC was once one of Barrick's main bankers, new management has spread the work around to other banks such as Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Jamie Anderson, RBC's deputy chair of capital markets, and former RBC chief executive Gordon Nixon were two of the bankers Barrick consulted before raising $3-billion in a share offering in 2013. The bank was the lead underwriter for the equity raise.