Bombardier Inc. named Louis G. Véronneau to oversee the company’s mergers-and-acquisitions activity as it prepares to spin off its rail-equipment business amid broader efforts to improve its financial performance.

Mr. Véronneau’s appointment as vice-president, mergers and acquisitions, is effective immediately, the company said in a statement. In addition to playing a lead role in readying an initial public offering for the train unit, he will oversee Bombardier’s partnerships, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures on a global scale, it said.

The appointment is the latest in a string of recent management changes at the Canadian plane and train maker that began in February with the appointment of Alain Bellemare as chief executive. The company brought on Mr. Bellemare to help it address troubles in its aerospace unit largely linked to its ambitious new CSeries jet program.

Late last month, it named Jim Vounassis to head operations strategy, saying he had a mandate to transform the business into a “high performance organization.”

Mr. Véronneau was most recently a managing director at Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Securities Inc. unit, where he advised Canadian companies on investment banking matters ranging from financings to mergers and acquisitions.

“Louis has led acquisitions, divestitures, joint-ventures, mergers, spin-offs and take-overs totaling billions of dollars. With his strong influencing skills and rich background combining law, investment banking, strategy and mergers and acquisitions, Louis brings tremendous experience to every aspect of his new role,” Mr. Bellemare said in the statement.