REGIONAL WINNERS
By Michael Shari
| NORTH AMERICA | |
| Best Investment Bank | J.P. Morgan |
| Best Equity Bank | Morgan Stanley |
| Best Debt Bank | J.P. Morgan |
| Best M&A Bank | Goldman Sachs |
| LATIN AMERICA | |
| Best Investment Bank | Itaú BBA |
| Best Equity Bank | Santander |
| Best Debt Bank | Itaú BBA |
| Best M&A Bank | BTG Pactual |
| WESTERN EUROPE | |
| Best Investment Bank | Deutsche Bank |
| Best Equity Bank | UBS |
| Best Debt Bank | Deutsche Bank |
| Best M&A Bank | Lazard |
| NORDIC | |
| Best Investment Bank | Danske Bank |
| Best Equity Bank | Goldman Sachs |
| Best Debt Bank | Nordea Markets |
| Best M&A Bank | Deutsche Bank |
| CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE | |
| Best Investment Bank | VTB Capital |
| Best Equity Bank | Citi |
| Best Debt Bank | Gazprombank |
| Best M&A Bank | Deutsche Bank |
| ASIA-PACIFIC | |
| Best Investment Bank | Nomura |
| Best Equity Bank | CITIC Securities |
| Best Debt Bank | Mizuho |
| Best M&A Bank | Citi |
| MIDDLE EAST | |
| Best Investment Bank | Samba Capital |
| Best Equity Bank | Banque Saudi Fransi |
| Best Debt Bank | HSBC |
| Best M&A Bank | Goldman Sachs |
| AFRICA | |
| Best Investment Bank | Standard Chartered |
| Best Equity Bank | FirstRand |
| Best Debt Bank | FirstRand |
| Best M&A Bank | Société Générale |
NORTH AMERICA
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
J.P. Morgan
With 3,000 corporate clients on both sides of the US-Canadian border, J.P. Morgan grew its share of the North American bond market by more than half a percentage point, to 10.7%, last year. It raised $284.8 billion in 1,362 deals last year, according to Dealogic.
BEST EQUITY BANK
Morgan Stanley
Known for its top-notch equity research and salesmanship, Morgan Stanley raised $25.9 billion in 161 equity deals in North America last year, up one-quarter from $20.5 billion from 147 deals in 2011.
BEST DEBT BANK
J.P. Morgan
J.P. Morgan reigns supreme over North America’s debt capital mar-kets. The bank underwrote a $14.7 billion bond for U.S. pharmaceu-tical company AbbVie and a $9.8 billion bond for auto parts maker United Technologies.
BEST M&A BANK
Goldman Sachs
Backed by one of the largest M&A teams on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs remained in first place among its North American peers last year. Goldman advised clients on 221 deals that were valued at $357.9 billion and represented a 25.7% market share.
LATIN AMERICA
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
Itaú BBA
Itaú BBA can now clearly be called a multinational bank. By Itaú’s count, it underwrote 17% of LatAm public equity deals last year, and worked on M&A deals valued at $18.3 billion.
BEST EQUITY BANK
Santander
Banco Santander of Spain has reassured investors that having more than half of its business in Latin America offsets its exposure to the troubled eurozone. Last September, it raised $4.1 billion by tak-ing its Mexican subsidiary, Santander Mexico, public in the world’s third-largest IPO.
BEST DEBT BANK
Itaú BBA
Brazil-based Itaú BBA underwrote more bond deals than any other Latin American bank—123 deals with a 20% market share—last year. Itaú’s largest deal was a $7 billion bond issued in four tranches at different prices for Brazilian oil company Petrobras International Finance.
BEST M&A BANK
BTG Pactual
BTG Pactual, a Brazilian investment bank, advised its clients on 83 mergers and acquisitions valued at $27.3 billion with a 15.7% share of Latin America’s M&A market lat year. In May last year, BTG Pactual advised biofuel producer Cosan SA Industria e Comercio on the $1.8 billion acquisition of natural gas utility Comgás.
WESTERN EUROPE
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
Deutsche Bank
With a solid balance sheet and a mid-term strategy that has reas-sured clients that Deutsche Bank will not exit investment banking, the German lender has secured the loyalty of clients despite its deep exposure to the eurozone. Last year it earned $1.1 billion in invest-ment banking fees in Europe, more than any other bank.
BEST EQUITY BANK
UBS
Slammed in the mortgage crisis of 2007, UBS was forced to restructure as part of a Swiss government bailout under draconian new capital requirements. The bank could hardly have been bet-ter prepared to focus on Europe’s equity markets, where it raised $7.9 billion in 44 equity deals last year.
BEST DEBT BANK
Deutsche Bank
The confidence of Deutsche Bank’s clients in its balance sheet secured first place for Deutsche in Western Europe’s bond market, where it raised $119.9 billion for them in 536 debt deals last year. In its largest bond deal of 2012, the bank led a $7.7 billion issue for the British government last April.
BEST M&A BANK
Lazard
Lazard, long known for its strength in mergers and acquisi-tions, advised clients on 135 deals last year that had a value of $131.83 billion and made up a 14.9% market share. In its big-gest deal, Lazard advised Xstrata on its proposed sale to Glencore International in a deal valued at $77 billion. The deal is still awaiting regulatory approval.
NORDIC
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
Danske Bank
Last year Danske Bank maintained client confidence with a strategic plan to meet new, stringent European Union capital requirements by the end of 2013. It made more money for its cli-ents on the stock market than any other Nordic institution, rais-ing $773 million in three equity deals that had a 5.4% regional market share.
BEST EQUITY BANK
Goldman Sachs
Last September, Goldman Sachs streamlined its Northern European investment banking business in a manner that helped raise more money in Nordic equity deals than any other invest-ment bank last year. It raised $4.1 billion in six deals with a 28.8% market share.
BEST DEBT BANK
Nordea Markets
Copenhagen-based Nordea Markets underwrote more pub-lic debt than any other investment bank in the Nordic region last year, raising $20 billion in 229 bond deals, according to Dealogic. In one major transaciton, it refinanced $1.6 bil-lion in three-year loans for Swedish mobile phone company Hi3G Access.
BEST M&A BANK
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank has focused on building up its Scandinavian M&A business for a couple of years. In the region’s biggest M&A deal last year, Deutsche advised Actavis Group of Iceland on its acquisition by global pharmaceutical company Watson Pharmaceuticals from Novator Eignarhaldsfélag for $5.3 billion last April.
CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
VTB Capital
Arguably Russia’s most aggressive investment bank, VTB Capital more than quadrupled the value of its M&A deals in Russia and its neighbors from $14.9 billion in 2011 to $70.7 billion last year. VTB issued the first Russian eurobond that it claims would qualify as Tier 1 capital under Basel II rules.
BEST EQUITY BANK
Citi
Citi raised more money for its clients in the region’s equity markets than any other bank last year. In just five deals that made up a 21.6% market share, Citi raised $3.9 bil-lion in equity. In the biggest of these, Citi was a bookrun-ner in the $1.8 billion initial public offering of Russian telecom company MegaFon.
BEST DEBT BANK
Gazprombank
Founded in 1990 by Russian gas exporter Gazprom, Gazprombank invests in a range of industries from nuclear power to real estate in Eastern Europe. Last year Gazprombank was a bookrunner in 51 deals that raised $8.3 billion.
BEST M&A BANK
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank ranked in first place in M&A the region with a 43% market share last year. Deutsche advised its clients on 19 transac-tions with a total value of $77.8 billion. Last June, Deutsche advised Sberbank of Russia on its $3.8 billion acquisition of a 99% stake in DenizBank of Turkey.
ASIA-PACIFIC
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
Nomura
Proving that it has fully assimilated Lehman Brothers’ Asian and European operations, which it acquired in 2008, Nomura underwrote 345 bond issues last year, up from just 317 in 2011. Relying on a huge retail client base to place new issues, Nomura underwrote 53 equity deals last year, three more than in 2011.
BEST EQUITY BANK
CITIC Securities
CITIC Securities underwrote 29 equity deals that raised $6.1 billion for its clients—about 50% more than in 2011—and claimed a 5.9% market share in Asia. The largest of these equity deals raised $3.7 billion in a follow-on issue for Bank of Communications in April.
BEST DEBT BANK
Mizuho
Mizuho retained first place in the region’s bond markets last year by raising $89.8 billion in 451 bond issues mainly for investment-grade corporations. The Japanese investment bank served as bookrunner of a $675 million bond issued by Sony and $1.03 billion in three separate bonds issued by Marubeni Corp.
BEST M&A BANK
Citi
Backed by one of the largest M&A teams on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs remained in first place among its North American peers last year. Goldman advised clients on 221 deals that were valued at $357.9 billion and represented a 25.7% market share.
MIDDLE EAST
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
Samba Capital
Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Samba Capital was active in a region shell-shocked by political strife. Samba advised its clients on two M&A deals valued at $728 million with a 19% market share. It also raised $509 million in two Saudi equity deals that made up a 10.5% regional market share.
BEST EQUITY BANK
Banque Saudi Fransi
Banque Saudi Fransi is 31% owned by Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank of France and is rated “A” by Standard & Poor’s. That background of relative stability helped BSF raise $1 billion for its clients in the Middle East’s equity capital markets last year—more than any other investment bank.
BEST DEBT BANK
HSBC
Thanks to a British colonial legacy that gives HSBC an air of stabil-ity—and a reputation for not opportunistically raising fees in times of political or financial crisis—HSBC raised more money for its cli-ents in bonds in the region than any other bank last year. In total HSBC raised $11.6 billion in 101 bond deals, garnering a 13.6% market share.
BEST M&A BANK
Goldman Sachs
Goldman had more M&A deals in the Middle East than any other bank last year—12 deals that were valued at $9.6 billion and repre-sented a 17.7% market share, according to Dealogic. In the largest one, Goldman advised Mubadala Development Company of the United Arab Emirates on its $2 billion acquisition of a 5.6% stake in EBX Group of Brazil.
AFRICA
BEST INVESTMENT BANK
Standard Chartered
Playing to its British colonial legacy, Standard Chartered braved Africa’s legal vagaries in raising $494 million in five equity deals in addition to $779 million in six bond issues in Africa last year. Its African bond business is growing thanks to an ambitious local-currency debt partnership with International Finance.
BEST EQUITY BANK
Rand Merchant Bank
RMB of South Africa, raised $603.3 million in seven equity deals in Africa last year. That was a 13.5% market share, second only to Morgan Stanley in the region, according to Dealogic. It acquired a 75% stake in Merchant Bank Ghana for $17.3 million last August.
BEST DEBT BANK
Rand Merchant Bank
RMB raised $1.41 billion in 74 deals in Africa’s debt capital mar-kets last year, claiming an 8.5% market share, according to Dealogic. The investment bank ranked in third place after Barclays and Citi.
BEST M&A BANK
Société Générale
Société Générale advised its clients on bigger M&A deals in Africa than any other bank last year, closing two deals valued at $5.7 bil-lion and garnering an 11.9% market share. In the larger of the two deals, SG advised France Telecom on its $3.3 billion acquisition of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology in Egypt last April.
Sources
