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A pair of oil analysts are making making moves to the energy industry, a path that became popular during last year's market downturn but has been less traveled in 2014 as merger and financing activity has picked up.
Michael Dembicki, who covered small and mid-cap exploration and production companies at TD Securites, has joined Seven Generations Exploration Ltd., a private company developing a liquids-rich Montney gas prospect called Kakwa River.
Mr. Dembicki will do engineering work for the company at its Grande Prairie, Alta., office. Seven Generations, backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, ARC Financial Corp., KERN Partners, Natural Gas Partners and ZBI Ventures, is expected to float an initial public offering this year.
Matthew Taylor, meanwhile, has left National Bank Financial, where he was director of oil and gas research for four years, focusing on small and intermediate producers. Mr. Taylor declined to say which company he has joined, only that he had accepted a position in the oil patch.
By January, more than three dozen capital markets professionals had left the business to join energy companies within a two-year stretch as business slowed and bonus pools at brokerages shrunk. However, the deal flow has picked up considerably this year, as have share issues, which has slowed the exodus.
Jeffrey Jones