RBC cracks Wall Street’s top 10 list for advising on M&A deals

Bloomberg

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) set a goal nine years ago to become a Top 10 investment bank in the US — but cracking Wall Street’s upper echelons for advising on takeovers had proved elusive. Until now.
RBC Capital Markets has risen to the No. 10 ranking for advising on announced US mergers and acquisitions this year, its highest standing ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The firm has 9.9% market share, with 72 deals valued at about $179 billion as of October 21. Its US investment banking co-head, Matthew Stopnik, anticipates more gains ahead.
“We’re scratching the surface,” Stopnik said in an interview at the firm’s Lower Manhattan office. “We see an opportunity to continue to chip away and do higher quality, more meaningful transactions and build market share.”
RBC Capital Markets in 2010 targeted a Top 10 US ranking within three years. It expanded New York operations by hiring star bankers, and boosted lending to win bigger clients.
While the efforts paid off years ago in equity financings and debt deals, the Top 10 for M&A remained out of reach.
The firm has the biggest US investment-banking operations of its Canadian peers including Toronto-Dominion Bank, after taking advantage of the financial crisis a decade ago to expand and recruit talent while other firms scaled back. Bank of Montreal is now aiming to take advantage of the more-recent retreat by European firms to expand its US investment bank.
RBC Capital Markets has about 560 investment bankers in the US — more than double from a decade earlier, and almost three times more than in Canada. That’s helped the firm move up the league tables.
“We feel like we’re gaining greater traction working on larger deals,” said Stopnik, 47. “A lot of it has to do with the hires and investments we’ve made over the years.”
RBC advised Raytheon Co this year on a $90 billion takeover by United Technologies Corp. It also was BB&T Corp’s sole adviser on its $27.9 billion merger with SunTrust Banks Inc and advised Broadcom Inc on the $10.7 billion acquisition of Symantec Corp’s enterprise security business.
The firm was sole adviser and provided debt financing to Permira Holdings LLP for its $2.5 billion takeover of life-sciences company Cambrex Corp, and is advising Apollo Global Management Inc and leading financing for a purchase of radio stations owned by Cox Enterprises Inc. “In a difficult fee environment overall, we’ve made significant progress on the M&A side,” said Jim Wolfe, RBC’s other co-head of US investment banking.