U.S. Based Mining IB Teams?
Mining banker based in Canada looking to make a move to the U.S.
With the recent growing focus on energy transition, seems a lot of firms have either launched dedicated mining teams in recent years, or have become an increasing focus coverage wise within their NR groups. Curious what the U.S. landscape is like (I have a strong grasp of sector coverage in other geographies); key datapoints that would be helpful are:
- Firm
- Location of coverage office
- Dedicated group, or grouped under NR
- Specifically within mining, commodity focus (i.e. battery metals only, or broad focus)
- How active they've been in the last 3-5 years
The ones I'm aware of, but please add to / correct the below where applicable:
- Jefferies: Think NYC based, small group. Don't know much beyond this
- Evercore: NYC based and also a small group. Believe focus is on energy transition / battery metals
- Moelis: Reached out by a HH; don't know much about the team
- GS: Think they have a broad mandate in NYC, very active across most commodities
- Citi: Broad mandate, mining HQ in LA
I'm sure other notable names have coverage efforts, but haven't seen many notable deals w/ their involvement. Believe JP / Lazard have a pretty strong relationship with Freeport, but don't know much else
Also interested
Have worked with some of the mining guys at Citi quite a bit. They sit under industrials.
Broad mandate overall, cover both base and precious metals and have done some battery metals stuff as well. Even did a few mining SPACs.
HQ is in LA, but the global head sits in Chicago and have some junior resources there as well. No NYC based bankers. Primary focus out of Chicago is the and more industrials type coverage like iron and steel.
Reasonably active in M&A, though more so on the financing side. Have missed out on a few of the bigger transactions the past few years i.e. Yamana/Goldfields, Rio/TRQ but have strong relationships with a lot of the major players and are generally seen as one of the stronger BBs in the mining space.
Apologies, but can't really comment on the other banks
Very helpful, thank you
JPM metals & mining is covered out of their Calgary NR office where their M&M group head now sits (was transferred over from Toronto recently I believe). A bit of traditional commodities but mainly energy transition stuff. No coverage really in NY.
GS M&M sits as a vertical under their NR group in NY. Broad commodities coverage.
CS had M&M as a vertical under their industrials group, which is the case with most other BB's in NY I believe. Mostly mid to downstream type stuff, think steel processing and chemicals n shit. Not much of the mega-sized upstream/exploration deals u see up in Canada covered by BMO.
RBC M&M sits in Toronto, no M&M group in NY. Same goes for BMO and the rest of the Canadian banks.
Don't think Moelis has a dedicated M&M group, its just 1-2 MD's in NY covering the space that will call on a few generalists/idle bankers sitting around to cover it when the occasional deal pops up. Same with Lazard, PJT, etc. Very random mandates; one might be a diamond mine private placement next could be a coal mine restructuring.
Evercore is the only EB with a real M&M team, called "metals, materials, and mining," here in NY. 10-ish man group. Focused on battery metals because they simply can't compete with the Canadian banks and GS for traditional base/precious metal mandates.
There might be a few more smaller ones that I'm missing, like Macquarie or Cantor Fitzgerald or smth, but they're largely irrelevant.
Overall, after considerable analysis and networking within the US metals & mining IB space, I'd suggest u to stay in Canada as there is absolutely no potential for growth or a long-term career in M&M IB in the US. Most of the so-called M&M is really just riding the energy transition/battery metal hype and going on roadshows for unprofitable junior lithium miners.
I think this is a pretty good survey. A couple of updates / thoughts:
Moelis recently hired the senior mining guy from CS, who has a decent franchise in steel and the “old economy” minerals (iron ore, coal, etc). They were the lead advisor on Cliffs’ attempt to buy US Steel, shortly after he joined.
Evercore is also changing a bit: this year they advised Arconic on its sale to Apollo ($5bn+) and US Steel on its sale to Nippon ($14bn+), and hired a senior guy in London, which I guess means they’re planning to grow in EMEA. The battery materials stuff seems to have gone a bit quiet, but maybe that’s just the market.
for whatever reason, the other EBs don’t seem to be very focused in M&M - PWP is basically tiny coal deals / restructurings, and Centerview shows up every once in a while with a generalst senior guy that somehow had a relationship with someone at a mining company.
The Canadians (esp. BMO) have a great business covering their domestic market, which is huge and so see a lot of flow, but for trickier stuff expect to see GS or another US firm brought in to provide some brains / M&A expertise. Also, the US banks (esp, the EBs) pay waaay better than the Canadians. In case that’s important…
Friend at PWP Chicago - basically all M&M, sits under Industrials. Group Head is former Citi metals and mining guy
Bump
Join BMO metals and mining. You’ll have a great time.
Great culture and great comp.
is this true
No that's pure ole sarcasm 101
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