Strategic Alternatives

With over $1 trillion in transactions under his belt, Larry Grafstein, Deputy Chairman, Global Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets, shares career insights and deal strategies. This episode was originally recorded with The Investment Banking Leaders Podcast on September 23, 2024.

As U.S. issuances surge and redemptions from the low-rate era come due, the debt markets are in a dynamic phase, but what can issuers and investors expect next? Vito Sperduto is joined by Robert McCormack, Global Head of Debt Capital Markets, and Allison MacKinnon, Head of UK & European Corporate Debt Capital Markets, to discuss the developments.

Despite uncertainty around elections in Europe and the U.S., issuers have accelerated their funding plans in what has been a positive year for global bond markets. Head of European Debt Capital Markets and Syndicate, Robert Lamb and Co-head, Canadian Debt Capital Markets, Patrick McDonald explore the trends shaping debt capital markets.

The Trans Mountain Pipeline is up and running; the LNG Canada export facility is gearing up. The promise of new routes and markets for Canadian products is focusing investors’ attention on the market as never before. RBC Canadian energy specialists, Jeff Cormack and Michael Povaschuk, join the Energy Transition in Focus podcast to predict what this means for companies in the sector.

In a shifting financial landscape, banks are emerging as compelling value investments, driven by modest GDP growth and anticipated Fed rate cuts. Co-Head of Global Financials Research, Gerard Cassidy, explores the latest trends in bank stocks, regulatory changes, and M&A opportunities.

Covid put paid to the notion of fintech as a secular growth market, yet the sector continues to evolve, diversify, and transform financial providers. Fintech analyst, Dan Perlin, reveals why the mood at RBC’s fintech conference was better than the market would suggest, and explains that a long-awaited consumer dip could ultimately benefit the sector.

Private capital is critical to energy transition efforts, but much of it to date has been channeled to renewables and electric vehicles. What are the prospects of attracting funds to other sub-sectors, and early-stage innovators? In this episode of Strategic Alternatives, host Beatrix Pratte-Ness is joined by RBC specialists Ralph Ibendahl, Paul Betts, and Barrie Laver to assess the prospects for the market.

On this episode of Strategic Alternatives, we share a rebroadcast of the Meb Faber Show podcast episode, featuring Lori Calvasina, Head of US Equity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets, in which she explains why the US market has become more sentiment driven in the post COVID era. She shares her thoughts on the valuations of the top 10 stocks and the broad market. She also touches on small cap stocks, takeaways from earnings season, and her early thoughts on 2025.

On this episode of Strategic Alternatives, we share a rebroadcast of an iCapital Beyond 60/40 podcast episode, featuring Amy Wu Silverman, Managing Director and Equity Derivatives Strategist of RBC, in which she shares how options market trends can indicate public sentiment.

With a combined deal value of $29bn under their belts this year, four CEOs reflect on what they’ve learned from their successes – and failures. Roberto Bellini (who sold BELLUS Health), Mark McKenna (Prometheus), Bill Meury (Karuna Therapeutics) and Dan O’Connor (Ambrx Biopharma) also consider the current market for biopharma M&A and what buyers are seeking today.