The head of Raymond James Bank’s Canadian arm, Daniel Simunac, is leaving the U.S.-owned lender and joining Toronto-based private credit firm Stonebridge Financial Corp. as co-chief executive officer, part of Stonebridge’s plans to expand its reach in a hot market for private lending.
Mr. Simunac will share the CEO title with Cam Di Giorgio, who has been at Stonebridge since 2009. They will take over from Robert Colliver, who co-founded the firm in 1999 and will move to the role of executive chair, keeping oversight of existing debt funds and managed accounts.
Also joining Stonebridge from Raymond James is Cormac Mac Lochlainn, as an executive vice-president. He was previously senior vice-president of corporate and real estate banking at Raymond James.
Stonebridge has $3.2-billion in assets under administration. Over its 24-year history, it has carved out a niche as an investment manager that provides private loans ranging in size from $25-million to $500-million. It has focused on sectors with connections to environmental, social and governance principles, or ESG, including infrastructure and renewable power.
The firm’s lending to infrastructure projects includes wind and solar farms, hydroelectric power plants and hospitals, as well as retirement homes and long-term care facilities.
“Social impact sectors are now all the rage and in vogue, but they were one of the early adopters of this space long before it became fashionable,” Mr. Simunac said in an interview.
Mr. Di Giorgio has led Stonebridge’s project finance business in renewable power, infrastructure and long-term care as an executive vice-president, and will be tasked with solidifying its position in the market. “That’s still going to very much be the largest piece of the business,” Mr. Simunac said.
But Stonebridge is looking to branch out. Private credit providers are predicting a boom, because some banks, particularly in the U.S., have started to pull back on lending, and rising interest rates are helping private lenders negotiate more attractive terms for their loans.
Mr. Simunac has experience in real estate and corporate borrowing. He said Stonebridge brought him and Mr. Mac Lochlainn on in a bid to extend its reach “across the real assets spectrum in terms of commercial real estate, and add more corporates over time.”
Stonebridge will stick to subsectors it considers “resilient,” Mr. Simunac said, from storage and logistics to grocery stores and data centres. He said the firm will avoid more volatile industries, such as natural resources or oil and gas, and will keep its portfolio focused on investment-grade or near-investment-grade credit while catering to institutional clients, rather than retail investors.
Raymond James Bank has yet to name a new country head for its Canadian banking subsidiary, Raymond James Finance Company of Canada Ltd. Over 11 years as a commercial and corporate bank in the country, it has committed about $8-billion in financing to Canada-based clients in more than 200 transactions.
James Bradshaw