Royal Bank of Canada is starting a global private capital group to take advantage of the growth in transactions involving private placements and special purpose acquisition companies.

The unit, to be part of the bank’s capital-markets business, will be led by Erwin Van Der Voort, head of Royal Bank’s U.S. alternative investors group, the Toronto-based company said Monday. Van Der Voort joined the bank from Credit Suisse Group AG in 2016.

The new group will handle all transactions that include private capital, including equity, preferred and debt private placements, private investments in public equity, SPACs and the sale of minority interests. The market volatility caused by the pandemic has led to a boom in SPACs, also known as blank-check companies, with the vehicles raising more than US$60 billion so far in 2020, compared with last year’s US$12.4 billion.

“Having a focused private capital group will help us to better meet the needs of our clients, and further supports the growth in our advisory and equity capital markets businesses, across industries and regions,” Royal Bank executives said in a memo to staff.

The company also hired Ricardo McKenzie from JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a managing director of the private capital group, focused on private placements. McKenzie will join the bank in New York in December after the end of his garden leave. Robyn Doritty, a director in Royal Bank’s Canadian equity capital markets group, and Will Smith, a director in its European equity capital markets group, will join the group as well.