RBC Capital Markets is significantly expanding and reorganizing its energy research, sales and trading capabilities. As a result, RBC Capital Markets will now be the only bank-owned investment dealer with a dedicated energy sales platform in Calgary.

Matt MacKenzie joins RBC Capital Markets’ Calgary office to focus on specialist energy sales coverage of Canadian and U.S. institutional clients. His experience as a top ranked oil and gas services analyst meshes well with RBC Capital Markets’ global strengths in the energy sector.

“We plan to cover 30 junior energy companies within the next 12 months in addition to our existing global energy coverage of more than 180 companies. Our specialist salesperson will ensure that the institutional market receives our in-depth analysis in a timely and effective manner,” said Gordon Gee, energy analyst and managing director in RBC’s Calgary office.

In his role, MacKenzie will work closely with RBC Capital Markets’ energy research team including its junior energy research analysts, Jason Bouvier and William Lee. Bouvier’s background in corporate finance combined with Lee’s extensive experience in reservoir engineering bring a unique research perspective to this sector.

“I am excited to be part of RBC Capital Markets’ team,” said MacKenzie. “They have an extensive platform with salespeople in every major centre in North America, plus a strong energy franchise in Europe. My goal is to add significant value for our institutional client base in the energy sector.”

In addition, RBC Capital Markets has appointed Robert Lee, a managing director with 20 years of resource industry and equity sales experience, as manager resource equity sales, North America. Lee will focus on coverage of Toronto-based energy clients and manage the sales team.

“We decided to have a dedicated energy sales platform on the ground because Calgary is such a critical place to be,” said Robert Lee, “We’re seeing increasing demand for Canadian oil and gas expertise from US and European institutional clients, and we’re growing to ensure we have the capacity and specialized expertise.”

On the trading front, RBC Capital Markets’ energy initiative is led by Derek Flood, managing director and co-head of liability trading at RBC Capital Markets. “With 50 traders covering more than 800 institutional clients globally, our goal is to be a dominant force in trading energy stocks on the TSX, NYSE and British-based exchanges,” said Flood.

In addition, RBC Capital Markets also announced that Dirk Lever has joined the energy research team. He will work in partnership with Greg Shaw to cover the energy trust sector. Dirk is the top-ranked income trust analyst in Canada, and was previously ranked among the top three energy trust analysts in Canada. In the junior energy sector, Jason Bouvier and William Lee will lead the research effort while Mark Polak is expanding the company’s efforts in the integrated oil and gas area.