Bay Street Mining Groups

Current AN at big 5 M&M with friends at other mining shops so will try to provide some more detail on the various mining groups given the amount of recent junior hiring.

TLDR -  BMO > NBF = Scotia = RBC > CIBC > TD

BMO - Best mining group out of Toronto, the league tables speak for themselves - is the flagship franchise and will spend up to pick up talent (see GHL senior hire). They are on more >$1B as financial advisors than they miss and are 3/3 on IPOs this year as lead left. BMO is significantly larger than other Big 5 groups (30+ people) so they will go after any small cap underwriting fee, which leads to the sweaty experience that is known for the group. Tends to be slightly stronger in precious metals given the group head history cutting his teeth around the various Yamana transactions. Would also note they are sometimes brought in as the mining focused shop on larger metals deal out of LDN/NY. MDs love to overkill every pitch with 70+ pages of endless bubble charts. TBD on how there recent Euroz transaction plays out in Aus market.

TD - Smallest group of the big 5, is kind of an afterthought internally given growth area of TD is with Cowen in the US MM market. More base metal focused - tend not to stray too far downmarket given staffing capacity so try to focus on midcap transactions within base metals with HBM as a notable client. Don't really do any meaningful underwriting/IPO and are not really growing group into this bull market. Good hours compared to other groups listed, which is a function of shitty dealflow.

RBC - Was previously the worst group of big 5, having to lay juniors off as recently as four years ago due to shitty deal flow but has improved. Will make you do 3 years as an analyst. New group head is an improvement from former head who left to Kinross. Are notable for a stronger APAC franchise with wins with Zijin/AAUC, FM, SBSW prepay and Turquoise hill. Known for trying to pitch everything under the sun so will get grinded. Strong ER franchise lends itself to good performance in underwriting, would put as #2 in underwriting behind BMO.

CIBC - Franchise has fallen off with the new group head after former group head left to GFI. Similar to TD they also tend not to stray too far downmarket for underwriting fees. Strong CB franchise - #2 behind BMO lends itself to more large cap relationships. Recently been on a few fairness opinions ex. SSR/OLA but has been quiet on financial advisor mandates. Hear it is pretty sweaty as seniors are scrambing for dealflow. Overstaffed at ASO level with hires - would avoid with current seniors antics.

Scotia - Lots of questions around group following senior departures to NBF following internal competition following group head departure. Has been strong recently with Sandstorm/Hemlo wins. Noteable for solid research, lends itself well to being competitive for underwriting. More Canadian focused, given weaker global franchise will not be seen on large deals out of LDN.

NBF - Solid group following Scotia hires, few groups within NBF are as competitive with big 5 so is a focus of the franchise. Sweaty group which runs lean, but sees solid deal flow. Has worked to build out franchise following Scotia hires with more CB lending. Will not go down market for fees like BMO given limited good seniors. Franchise is still underbuilt - is more Canadian driven, will not see NBF on big deals outside of NA. Has been trying to grow LDN team with recent RBC hire, results are TBD.