CIBC Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in Canadian and global equity and debt capital markets. The firm provides a variety of financial services including equity and debt capital market products, mergers and acquisitions, global markets (sales and trading), merchant banking, and other investment banking advisory services. Established via a series of acquisitions, including Canadian brokerage Wood Gundy and U.S.-based Oppenheimer & Co., CIBC Capital Markets has been a leading investment bank in Canada with a notable presence in various international markets at times over the years. CIBC Capital Markets is headquartered at CIBC Square in Toronto with offices in Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Salt Lake City, Beijing, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. History CIBC Wood Gundy The original Wood Gundy company was established in Toronto in 1905 by George Herbert Wood and James Henry Gundy. CIBC purchased a majority stake in Wood Gundy in June 1988 for C$203.3 million. After the purchase, the CIBC formed CIBC Wood Gundy, which offered asset management services for corporate and institutional clients. Two years later, in 1990, they continued to expand the Canadian securities business by acquiring much of Merrill Lynch & Company's Canadian business. In 1997, Wood Gundy acquired Eyers Reed, an Australian broker firm for $20 million. Acquisition of Argosy Group In April 1995, CIBC Wood Gundy announced the acquisition of The Argosy Group, a New York-based investment banking firm involved primarily in the high-yield debt market. Argosy had been founded by three Drexel Burnham Lambert alumni: Jay Bloom, Andrew Heyer, and Dean Kehler, who had worked together in Drexel's New York office in the 1980s. The acquisition of Argosy marked an aggressive push by CIBC into the US investment banking business. Prior to that point, CIBC had never done a junk bond deal. Argosy's three major principals had worked on some of the biggest junk-bond deals of the 1980s while at Drexel Burnham Lambert. The 52 Argosy employees constituted the core of what would become CIBC's High Yield Group and CIBC Argosy Merchant Banking funds that were responsible for, among other things, the $1 billion windfalls that CIBC would earn from its early investments in Global Crossing. The Argosy principals also managed two collateralized debt obligation vehicles known as Caravelle Funds I and