Good evening,

Canaccord Genuity has lured across a senior dealmaker from Azure Capital’s partnership ranks, in a major win for its M&A advisory arm.

Street Talk understands John Toll, who finished up at the Natixis-backed corporate advisory firm in December, has signed with the mid-market specialist investment bank. Toll would lead Canaccord’s on-ground advisory presence in WA as a managing director.

Toll spent 15 years at Azure Capital, including 10 as a partner. He specialised in mining companies, with recent clients including $2.2 billion gold miner De Grey, and Firefly Resources which was acquired by Gascoyne Resources. In addition to M&A advisory, he worked on restructurings, as well as debt and equity financing.

At Canaccord, Toll would be tasked with pumping out deals for the investment banking unit, which last year advised Lithium Power Australia on its $385 million sale to Chilean copper giant Codelco and Bill Beament’s Develop Global on its $152 million acquisition of Essential Metals. Its ECM arm, led by Alex Unsworth, is the top-ranking bookrunner for ASX-listed natural resources companies so far this year, according to Dealogic.

With Toll’s arrival, Canaccord will be hoping to double down on its relationships, tending to ASX-listed miners and industrials on both fronts – raisings and M&A.

Azure Capital, which sold a 50 per cent stake to Natixis in July 2019, has about 45 dealmakers – from analysts to partners – and regularly turns up on resources, energy and industrials deals.

The firm promoted industrials banker Olivia Boyne to partner last year after she led 7-Eleven’s sale alongside David Flynn, and advised Pacific Equity Partners, Canada’s OPTrust and Foresight (née Infrastructure Capital Group) on their take-private of remote power specialist Zenith Energy.

Read this story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

• Rich Listers Tim Gurner and Andrew Roberts plot merger
• Senex covets Incitec‘s fertiliser biz; board may opt for higher offer
• Boutique adviser 333 Capital in the thick of WICET’s $3b refi

• Macquarie’s $58 million man hands reins to trading veteran
• Tod’s founding family partners with L Catterton for buyout bid
• Activist investor Carl Icahn has reported a 10 per cent stake in JetBlue Airways, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.