While Scotiabank is widely recognized as a leading Bank across the Americas, it is increasingly capturing the attention of U.S. private equity firms through its growing suite of advisory and capital solutions, complemented by access to its robust Canadian and international wealth management platforms.
“Over decades, Scotiabank has earned a reputation as a trusted participant amongst U.S. institutional clients, but now we are growing our investment and corporate banking capabilities and expertise, tailored to global and U.S. private equity firms,” says Gopal Tampi, Managing Director, U.S. Financial Sponsors, within Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets. “Today, when I talk about Scotiabank, I highlight our strengths underwriting leveraged finance transactions, how we share acquisition ideas for assets across our Americas footprint, and our readiness to apply our balance sheet in differentiated ways to help our sponsor clients.”
Tampi points out that Scotiabank’s increasing focus in the U.S. is founded on a long history as a top-tier corporate, commercial, and retail bank in Canada and major economies across Latin America. As such, the Bank is seasoned at satisfying the financial needs of private equity clients in those markets, from investment banking to cash management.
In addition, Scotiabank is recognized for its deep experience serving traditional industries, such as energy, power, metals, and mining, as well as in today’s fast-evolving sectors, including healthcare and technology. This combination of industry coverage and established relationships means the Bank can provide invaluable insights to PE clients, to help identify assets and access opportunities across the Americas.
“In the last five years, Scotiabank has made a concerted effort to extend these capabilities to the U.S. market, most recently by investing to acquire top talent who can really distinguish our client offerings,” adds Tampi. He himself joined the New York-based investment banking team in 2024 to spearhead the Bank’s U.S. sponsor coverage efforts, leveraging his 25 years of experience, largely focused on the U.S. sponsor universe.
Scotiabank’s commitment to the U.S. private equity business is highlighted by two recent appointments: Matt Eilers, a veteran of investment banking, with a focus on advising private equity firms, as Senior Vice President and Global Co-Head of Corporate and Investment Banking; and the addition of David Boutry, with 30+ years of investment banking and private equity experience, as Managing Director, Financial Sponsors Group. These appointments build upon the Bank’s establishment of a best-in-class Leveraged Finance team in late 2023, and the curation of an industry-leading, Asset Backed Securities (ABS) team in 2024, among other strategic hirings at Scotiabank’s New York offices and trading desks.
These developments complement Scotiabank’s strategic capital deployment in the U.S. market, including its 2024 US$2.8 billion equity investment in KeyCorp, a premier financial services company.1 With Scotiabank already known as one of the top 10 foreign banking operations in the U.S.,2 KeyCorp’s operations align with Scotiabank’s growth strategy.
U.S. market focus driving transaction growth
These cumulative efforts to fortify Scotiabank’s bench-strength have reaped results very quickly for private equity clients, since the Bank led or supported more than 40 high-profile private equity transactions over the past 18 months, notably in leveraged finance, infrastructure, project finance and ABS.
For example, in 2024, the team advised a leading private equity sponsor on a US$2.0+ billion cross-border take-private in the automotive sector, providing an integrated M&A and leveraged finance solution.3 That same year, the team acted as Bookrunner on a US$550+ million IPO of a sponsor-backed software company, marking the firm’s first U.S. software IPO and underscoring its growing technology investment banking franchise.4
In 2025, the team served as Joint Lead Arranger and Bookrunner on a US$5.8 billion carve-out financing in the environmental services sector for a consortium of top-tier sponsors.5 Most recently, the team supported a US$4.9 billion joint venture between a global investment firm and a major U.S. telecom provider to acquire a fiber-optic broadband platform,6 leveraging the firm’s project finance and securitization expertise to structure a tailored, multi-faceted financing solution.
In addition, the team played a key role in financing several marquee sponsor-led transactions, including a US$10.0+ billion acquisition in the consumer and retail sector,7 a US$6.0+ billion transaction in the gaming industry,8 and a US$2.0+ billion acquisition in the power and utilities space,9 demonstrating the firm’s ability to deliver customized solutions across a broad range of sectors for its U.S. private equity clients.
Enabling connections to retail investor channels
U.S private equity firms are also taking note of Scotiabank due to Scotia Wealth Management®’s presence in Canada and Latin America, which could help PE firms seeking to grow and diversify their funding and distribution channels.
“Many of the largest PE firms are now targeting their products to retail investors, typically through the wealth management arms of major banks, as institutional channels are increasingly saturated,” observes Tampi. “These retail products represent an evolution of private equity, and the retail investor market is becoming an important avenue for PE firms to grow their assets under administration. That is where Scotiabank can be an invaluable partner to PE firms, since we have one of the most prestigious wealth management groups in Canada.”
Tampi explains that, as one of Canada’s largest wealth management businesses, Scotia Wealth Management® delivers a wide range of investment management products through an enviable advisory and distribution network across Canada and Latin America, particularly private investment, and full-service brokerage services to high-net-worth clients.
“Scotia Wealth Management® is already attracting top private equity firms as part of its offerings to its wealth clients,” notes Tampi. “While many PE firms would like to access the retail investor market, few have the manpower, reach or technology to do so, but Scotiabank has a well-established client base, distribution network, structures and regulatory knowledge to help PE firms with the best products to access this investor segment.”
Reflecting on the evolving private equity market, Tampi is optimistic about the prospects for the industry, and Scotiabank’s ability to support global PE firms: “We are excited about the opportunities to serve these clients, so we are telling the marketplace to, ‘Take a fresh look at Scotiabank, because we’ve bolstered our commitment and capabilities to meet the sophisticated needs of private equity, and we’re delivering results’.”
For more information, please contact:
Gopal Tampi
Managing Director, U.S. Financial Sponsors
