World’s Best Investment Banks 2025: Debt

Debt capital markets enjoyed a 36% surge in total deal volume in 2024 compared to 2023, according to Dealogic. The US touted a 45% increase. Asia-Pacific (50%), Africa and the Middle East (57%), and Latin America (66%) did even better; and Europe posted a 19% gain. Japan was the only major market to decline, by 3%.

Underwriter revenue from global Debt Capital Markets (DCM) reached $27.3 billion. Corporate issuance hit $3.1 trillion, including $2.7 trillion of investment-grade and $419.8 billion of noninvestment-grade bonds.

Cross-border deals by US issuers totaled $2.8 trillion, while issuers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa sold $2.55 trillion in bonds and Asia-Pacific issuers $588.5 billion.

Whether 2025 maintains the momentum remains to be seen. Global DCM activity year-to-date totaled $2.1 trillion, down 16% from last year’s levels. The US has seen a 14% decline. Investment-grade bond volume is down 14% thus far across the globe and global high-yield volume is 16% lower.

“Some of that change in volume may have been attributable to issuers taking an opportunistic approach at the beginning of the year,” suggests Jeff Ramsay, securities and capital markets partner at Paul Hastings law firm, “waiting to see how the change in [US] administration may affect the macroeconomic environment.”          —AN

With most developed economies cutting interest rates, DCM volumes soared last year. Bank of America Securities was in the thick of it, sponsoring several of the largest deals. BofA Securities captured an eye-popping $2.7 billion-plus in revenue from fixed-income offerings alone, for a commanding 6.9% of total global market share, as per Dealogic. Among the bank’s landmark deals, it acted as sole arranger of Ecuador’s $1 billion sovereign debt conversion, targeted at preservation of the Amazon’s ecosystems, one of the largest of its kind completed to date. It also played a significant role in boosting the mergers and acquisitions market from the debt side, arranging a $1.8 billion leveraged loan for Lone Star Funds as part of its acquisition of Carrier Global’s commercial and residential fire unit.

BofA Securities also played a significant role in North America-based debt arrangements last year. The firm announced the redemption of $2 billion in 2.46% fixed/floating rate senior notes due in October 2025, effective October 22, 2024.

Meanwhile, the bank’s Community Development Banking division provided $7.8 billion in debt and equity financing last year, facilitating the creation and preservation of 12,600 housing units across the US and underscoring BofA’s commitment to support affordable housing initiatives. Together, this range of activities highlights BofA Securities’ active involvement in significant debt arrangements within the US during 2024.

So far in 2025, the bank has served as a bookrunner for Mars’ substantial, eight-part investment-grade bond issue, aimed at financing the acquisition of Pringles maker Kellanova. Projected to raise between $25 billion and $30 billion, the deal stands as one of the year’s largest acquisition financings this year.     —AN and TM

After a prolonged period of corporate bond issuances plummeting to record lows across major markets, appetite for African debt is building up. Standard Bank, through its debt solutions and DCM offerings, has been the continent’s leader in the field, particularly in large funding quanta. The bank has also emerged as the region’s dominant force in sustainable energy initiatives, for which it has allocated some $300 million.

Across all of Standard Bank’s 2024 activity, it showed a knack for structuring innovative and fit-for-purpose solutions. Its deal portfolio included helping Zambia’s Copperbelt Energy raise a staggering $90 billion, acting as lead manager and underwriter for the oversubscribed 15-year green bond offering, which lured local and international investors. In South Africa, Standard Bank helped CrossBoundary Energy raise a $300 million debt facility.      —JN

With a focus on technological upgrading and equipment renewal projects, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) continued to step up lending to manufacturing last year, especially in the form of medium- to long-term loans and with a focus on high-end, intelligent, green development. But the behemoth bank was active across the debt market spectrum as well. In the first half of the year, loans and bond investments constituted 59.1% and 26.75% of ICBC’s assets, respectively, marking increases of 0.7 and 1.1 percentage points from the first quarter.

This strategic allocation underscores ICBC’s efforts to stabilize asset returns in a low interest rate environment. In the first half, yuan-denominated loans by its domestic branches increased by 1.74 trillion yuan ($240 billion), or 7.1%. The balance of its yuan bond investment increased by 1.1 trillion yuan while its domestic lead underwritings of bonds totaled nearly 770 billion yuan, leading the market by total size and growth of investment and financing.

ICBC’s loans to manufacturing grew by 13%, loans to strategic emerging industries by 14.7%, green loans by 13.7%, and inclusive loans by 21.5%. As of the end of June, loans to strategic emerging industries stood at 3.1 trillion yuan, an increase of nearly 400 billion yuan from the beginning of the year.     —LZ

A mixture of local market and eurobond offerings is helping TBC Bank leverage its leading position in Georgia’s up-and-coming economy to post phenomenal growth. With corporate bond issuances totaling $850.8 million in 2024, TBC maintained an impressive 52% share of its home market. The main focus of the bank’s DCM expansion was in the foreign exchange however, where it saw a nearly 50% rise in issuances from the year prior.

In dollar bonds, TBC Capital arranged 12 transactions, seven of which were exclusively managed by its team, and participated in four eurobond deals—up from none in 2023. Others included Georgia’s first-ever secured bond and fixed-rate bond offerings denominated in local currency, a milestone for fixed income in the nation.

The bank, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, also expanded its bond business into Uzbekistan last year, with two offerings in Central Asian country.       —TM

Taking advantage of a solid year for DCM in Mexico and Argentina, Spanish powerhouse BBVA leveraged its best-in-class presence in Latin America (outside of Brazil) to maintain steady growth in 2024. The big bank led the Mexican market with a total of 62 offerings, representing a commanding 22% of the country’s total issuance. BBVA also participated in 24 cross-border deals, amassing total volume of around $4.5 billion.

Among the region’s major 2024 debt deals, BBVA acted as the sole structurer and joint bookrunner on Engen Capital’s approximately $250 million debt issuance. The Spanish bank kicked off 2025 by issuing $1 billion in AT1 debt at the lowest spread ever for a Southern European bank, signaling strong investor confidence. A lower spread means cheaper borrowing costs, reflecting BBVA’s solid financial standing.            —TM

Standard Chartered is a top emerging markets bank with a strong focus on both Islamic finance and traditional banking. It ranked third for DCM in Africa and the Middle East in 2024, with 81 deals completed amounting to $13.5 billion, according to Dealogic. Standard Chartered ranked first for Islamic bond volume, with 43 deals closed on a balance of $5.5 billion.

A standout deal was the bank’s structuring of a $1 billion debt facility for First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) that was FAB’s debut in the tier 2 bond market. The deal’s capital structure enhanced FAB’s capital position, and diversified its investor base as a significant portion of the transaction was placed outside the Middle East. Also last year, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) issued a $5.5 billion facility with a diversified orderbook six times oversubscribed. Standard Chartered was the joint green structurer and ESG structuring bank. The deal was upsized because of strong investor demand, and its 7-, 12-, and 30-year tranches were new tenors (maturities or durations) for PIF.    —AM

Amid a solid year for global and European DCM, French giant BNP Paribas used its commanding position on the continent to extend its business globally. The bank’s DCM activity grew domestically and internationally in 2024, reaching 3.5% of the global market by revenue, according to Dealogic. In Europe, BNP led its rivals in revenue, volume, and number of deals.

Among BNP’s most notable transactions, it backed Iceland’s record-breaking inaugural green bond, with a final order book of over €7 billion ($7.5 billion). The bank also pushed the envelope of Europe’s DCM by arranging and placing the eurozone’s first-ever sovereign digital bond issue, for the government of Slovenia. —TM