Jefferies Financial Group is starting an investment-banking unit in Canada as part of an international expansion of its core Wall Street operations. 

The company will offer investment-banking and capital-markets services to its corporate, institutional and government clients in Canada, Jefferies said in a statement Monday. The office in Toronto will employ more than 40 people across investment banking, equity research, and sales and trading.

“Canada is one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, and as we enter 2024, we will have critical mass serving Canada,” Chief Executive Officer Rich Handler and President Brian Friedman said in the statement. 

Jefferies opened an office in São Paulo in July, and in April expanded its partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. The New York-based firm has been focused on hiring senior bankers and expanding across the globe as it seeks new opportunities amid a slowdown in deals.

The Canadian investment-banking unit will be led by several former Barclays Plc executives, including Bruce Rothney as CEO. John Manley was named chairman alongside Ron Lloyd and Trond Lossius as deputy chairmen. Lossius will also head up mergers and acquisitions. Erik Charbonneau was named head of investment baking, with Jacquelyn Titus appointed head of the financial-institutions group. James McKenna will oversee the technology, media and telecommunications group as well as diversified industrials.

Rothney said in the statement that Canada’s fast-growing economy and its “standout sectors — technology, health care, financial services, energy and power, telecom and media, and consumer – align perfectly with Jefferies.”

Founded in 1962, Jefferies started as a single office in Los Angeles focused on trading institutional equities. The company now has more than 40 offices across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It has expanded its services to include investment banking, equities, fixed income, asset management and wealth management.