Reynolds ‘elevated’ Canaccord on Bay St.
‘It’s sad. He was 52 with two new young kids and was looking forward to enjoying the back end of his career.” That was one reaction to the news Thursday that Paul Reynolds, the chief executive of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., the country’s largest, independent publicly listed securities firm, had passed away in Kona, Hawaii, following complications related to a health incident while competing in a triathlon.
“He was a great guy, generous, a good chief executive who made decisions and he will be sorely missed,” added a colleague who said that Mr. Reynolds, who was made the company’s chief executive in August 2007, developed a problem in the swimming leg of the triathlon. By the time he was pulled from water, “it was too late,” added the colleague.
Gene McBurney, one of the founders of another independent firm, GMP Capital, said that he did “a lot of deals” with Mr. Reynolds. “He was a formidable competitor and we collaborated on many, many mandates. He was always a good partner. With Paul it was never about brinksmanship. It was always getting the deal done and putting the interests of the clients first. I am so sad,” he said, adding that Mr. Reynolds “was a lot of fun.”
Mr. McBurney, who also lost Brad Griffiths, one of the original partners at GMP in a drowning incident, noted that Mr. Reynolds’ greatest legacy was “elevating Canaccord’s status in Toronto. Before Paul, the firm could not get much traction.”
Mr. Reynolds, whose father, John, was a Member of Parliament for many years, didn’t have the normal background of many chief executives in the securities industry. For instance, he started as a retail broker in the firm’s Vancouver office about 30 years ago before moving into institutional equities and later into investment bank- ing. (Brian Porter, the chief executive of Bank of Nova Scotia, also started as a retail broker.)
Secondly, he spent many years outside of Canada, having worked in London between 1999 and 2007 as president of the firm’s European operations. Indeed, he was based in London when Peter Brown, the firm’s former chief executive, anointed Mr. Reynolds as his successor.
Mr. Reynolds’ background probably gave him a different perspective, a perspective that is summed up in the company’s trademarked motto. “To us there are no foreign markets.”
That motto emerged after Canaccord set up operations in a number of countries, mostly through the acquisition of existing businesses. In all, it has offices in 10 countries. Aside from Canada and Europe, it has a large presence in the U.S. as well as in Asia and the Caribbean. It also has a wealth management operation in Australia.
The spread of its business is shown in its revenue breakdown. In fiscal 2014, total revenue was $615.7 million — of which Canada contributed $148.5 million; U.K. and Europe accounted for $212.3 million; the U.S. generated $216.5 million; and other regions added $38.4 million to the top line.
In 2010, Canaccord acquired the privately held Genuity Capital Markets.
Mr. McBurney said that many industry executives would not have tied those two firms together given the “strong personalities in both firms and the overlap. But [Mr. Reynolds] saw the benefits and it was probably one of the industry’s best mergers. It became a very formidable firm.”
He was a great guy, a good chief executive