Royal Securities Corporation
| Public company (now defunct) | |
| Industry | Stock brokerage |
| Founded | 1903 |
| Headquarters | Halifax, Canada |
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Key people
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John F. Stairs (founder) Max Aitken Izaak Walton Killam |
Royal Securities Corporation Limited was a stock brokerage firm founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in early 1903 by John F. Stairs, its first president. The company was the first brokerage firm to be opened east of Montreal, Quebec, the then financial center of Canada.
A prominent and influential businessman, John F. Stairs was also a former politician who had been elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and the Canadian House of Commons. He was involved with many companies owned by his family and others, including the Union Bank of Halifax. He had hired an inexperienced 23-year-old New Brunswick native named Max Aitken who immediately demonstrated an ingenious understanding of the world of commerce. Stairs made Aitken his personal assistant and on its formation, appointed him as Royal Securities' secretary and general manager. In its formative years, Royal Securities put together financing packages for Nova Scotia industries and raised the capital for several British West Indies public utility companies including ones where Stairs and his family were significant investors.
In 1904, Royal Securities hired Izaak Walton Killam, an employee working for the Stairs' family's Union Bank of Halifax. John F. Stairs died unexpectedly at the end of September 1904 while on a business trip to Toronto. His brother, George Stairs (1856-1908) took over as president but poor health saw Max Aitken, already a minority shareholder, acquire control of Royal Securities. Aitken soon hired and trained Arthur Nesbitt, a dry goods salesman from Saint John, New Brunswick. Because Montreal was the financial center of Canada, in 1906 Aitken would send Arthur Nesbitt to open the Montreal branch of Royal Securities. For years, the company was closely affiliated through a controlling equity position in Montreal Engineering Company, Ltd., an international engineering firm founded by Max Aitken and associates in 1907 and today part of the British conglomerate, AMEC. Eventually,Denis Stairs, the son of George Stairs, would serve as a director of Royal Securities and chairman of Montreal Engineering.
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