RBC Capital Markets continues expansion in U.S. investment banking

    -   Frank Napolitano appointed head of new U.S. Power and Utilities Group
    -   Kevin Smith appointed head of U.S. Industrials Group
    -   Ron Eliasek appointed co-head of U.S. Technology Group

NEW YORK, June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - RBC Capital Markets today announced a series of high-profile appointments within its U.S. investment banking business, including Frank Napolitano to head the formation of a new U.S. Power and Utilities group, Kevin Smith as head of the U.S. Industrials group, and Ron Eliasek as co-head of U.S. Technology investment banking. All three are based in New York and join other recent senior hires in product groups such as financial sponsors, leveraged finance, high yield, M&A, equity capital markets and restructuring. RBC has also recently formed new U.S. Transportation and Aerospace & Defense industry groups as the firm continues to further expand its investment bank in the U.S. and internationally.

"We are committed to expanding our U.S. investment banking and capital markets platforms, hiring exceptional people and bolstering our capabilities," said Blair Fleming, RBC Capital Markets' head of U.S. Investment Banking. "We are leveraging our traditional strengths and strong market position to extend our strategy and expand our presence into the mid and large cap company segments, which is consistent with our global platform across our capital markets businesses."

The formation of RBC Capital Markets' U.S. Power and Utilities Investment Banking group, led by Napolitano, is a natural addition to RBC's suite of industry teams and builds on the firm's strong global energy platform. Napolitano brings to RBC more than 23 years of experience in the energy power and utilities space. He previously spent 11 years at Lehman Brothers, where he served as global co-head of the Power group and sector head of the Wholesale Power practice and, more recently, as global head of Commodities Sales and Origination. Prior to joining RBC, he was most recently president of Lakeside Energy, a Chicago-based energy investment firm.

Smith joins RBC from the Silverfern Group, where he led the firm's Diversified Industrial business. Previously, he was head of the Diversified Industrials and Business Services group at Wachovia Securities and spent more than a decade with JP Morgan Chase prior to that. Joining Smith is Ian Woods as a director in RBC's U.S. Industrials group, with a focus on Building Products and Packaging. Woods joins from UBS, where he was most recently an executive director in the firm's Global Industrials group.

Eliasek will partner with co-head John Brew to continue to grow RBC Capital Markets' Technology investment banking practice and expand coverage across various industry sectors. Eliasek brings more than 15 years of investment banking experience to RBC, most recently as head of the Software & Systems group for Sagent Advisors, an M&A advisory firm. Prior to that, he served as managing director and head of Software & Systems investment banking at Wachovia Securities, and as an engineer at General Electric.

RBC Capital Markets has hired more than 90 senior professionals in the U.S. in 2010. In U.S. investment banking, the firm today announced the following additional hires, all based in New York:

    -   In Loan Capital Markets/Leveraged Finance, RBC Capital Markets
        continues to grow its U.S. and global platform and retains a top-five
        position in the North American syndicated and leveraged loan market.
        Jeff Abt joins RBC as a managing director in the U.S. Loan Capital
        Markets group, and Andrew Rosenbaum joins as a director in the U.S.
        Leveraged Finance group.
        -  Abt brings over 20 years of experience to RBC, including stints at
           Lehman Brothers and most recently at Goldman Sachs, where he was a
           managing director covering a variety of industries including
           Consumer and Industrials. With RBC, Abt will cover Industrials,
           Consumer, Transportation, Technology and other industries.
        -  Rosenbaum spent seven years with Lehman Brothers, most recently as
           a senior vice president in the firm's Global Leveraged Finance and
           Private Capital Markets' investment banking group, with a focus on
           the Energy sector. He joins from private equity firm Patriarch
           Partners. With RBC, Rosenbaum will focus on Energy, Power and
           Utilities.
    -   Michael Davis joins as a managing director in the Equity Capital
        Markets (ECM) group, where he will have direct responsibility for
        RBC's U.S. Energy coverage effort within ECM. Davis spent a decade at
        Credit Suisse, where he led ECM coverage for the Energy and Chemicals
        sectors. He most recently served as assistant treasurer and vice
        president of Finance for Energy Future Holdings in Dallas.
    -   Jon Huerta joins RBC as a director in the Aerospace & Defense group,
        where he will focus on the Government Services and Defense Technology
        sectors. Prior to joining RBC, Huerta was a senior vice president at
        Macquarie, responsible for starting the firm's Aviation, Aerospace &
        Defense advisory practice. Previously, Huerta spent five years at
        Banc of America in the firm's Aerospace, Defense and Transportation
        group.
    -   David Archibald joins as a director in the Financial Sponsors group,
        with general coverage responsibility. Archibald spent more than 15
        years with Wachovia Securities, where he was most recently a director
        in the Financial Sponsors group. Previous to that role, he spent
        seven years in the firm's Consumer and Retail investment banking
        group.

About RBC Capital Markets

RBC Capital Markets is the corporate and investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada and is active globally in debt and equity origination, sales and trading, foreign exchange, infrastructure finance, and structured products across a number of industry sectors. Its North American platform includes a significant U.S. investment banking franchise and leading equity and fixed income underwriting, sales, trading and research businesses.

SOURCE RBC