IFR Asia Awards 2015



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Australia/New Zealand bond house

National Australia Bank’s focus on corporate bonds, bank capital and securitisation paid dividends in 2015 as the Australasian debt markets continued to expand beyond their traditional bank-dominated core. NAB was at the forefront of key developments during IFR’s review period, combining its focus on higher-margin business with its deep corporate relationships to deliver a range of innovative deals across the Australian fixed-income arena. All told, NAB was on 82 Australian dollar transactions, including securitisations, but excluding self-led...

Australia/New Zealand Equity House

UBS has been facing some reinvigorated competition in Australasian equities of late, but it came back stronger in 2015, leading the way with jumbo bank recapitalisations, arranging the largest IPO of the year and maintaining its focus on innovation. Capital-raising activity of Australia’s banks was a key theme throughout the year. After regulators asked the country’s major lenders to set aside more capital against potential loan losses, the big four banks all completed major equity offerings to raise a combined A$16.56bn (US$11.9bn). In an...

Australia/New Zealand Loan House

Westpac Banking grabbed market share and executed a diverse range of deals on its way to a stellar year in a highly competitive market. The bank won 20 lead roles for a broad range of transactions, including corporate deals, project financings and acquisition loans across multiple sectors. It worked on a sole basis on as many as eight of these financings, totalling over A$3.7bn (US$2.7bn), and improved its market share from 2014, vaulting to the top of the bookrunner ranking for the Australian loan market, up from third position a year...

China Bond House

ICBC added to its credentials as a full-service bond house in 2015 as it dominated the onshore market, facilitated landmark international renminbi deals and helped Chinese issuers access foreign currency funding. The bank reaffirmed its number one position in the domestic renminbi market, arranging Rmb156bn (US$24.5bn) of local offerings during the review period, according to Thomson Reuters data. As monetary easing lured more Chinese issuers into the local capital markets, ICBC’s extensive network played to its advantage, helping many offshore...

China Loan House

Standard Chartered continued to deliver innovative financings in 2015 with an eye on wider distribution, sticking to Chinese clients during a volatile year when others were pulling back. A slowing economy made China a challenging market for global lenders, but StanChart stood firm, offering clients a mix of renminbi and foreign currency loans and often leading transactions on a sole basis. The bank underlined its sound read on market pricing with successful syndications for first-time borrowers and broadened its distribution effort as Taiwanese...

Offshore Renminbi Bond

Australian banking major ANZ’s debut Tier 2 bond offering in January established the renminbi as an alternative funding currency for global bank capital and effectively reopened the market in a challenging period for Dim Sum offerings. The Rmb2.5bn (US$390m) deal marked the first time a foreign bank raised Basel III capital in the offshore renminbi market. The bigger-than-expected size and competitive pricing spawned a flurry of copycat issues. Since then, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, BPCE and Societe Generale have all issued T2 Dim...

Hong Kong Loan House

HSBC maintained its leading position in Hong Kong with jumbo loans, repeat mandates and event-driven financings, combined with a greater focus on distribution. The city’s deal of the year was the reorganisation of Hong Kong blue-chips Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, and HSBC was firmly in the driving seat as sole financial adviser. HSBC provided HK$45bn (US$5.8bn) of a HK$55bn bridge loan in January to fund the group’s reshuffle into property and non-property assets, and churned its exposure quickly, coordinating a HK$40bn takeout...

Hong Kong Equity Issue

The successful HK$7.22bn (US$932m) listing of China International Capital Corp, the country’s first investment bank, showed the Hong Kong market can deliver a long-term shareholder base for even the most challenging of deals. CICC had already endured a long and arduous route to market, with questions circling over its growth plans amid a slowdown in dealmaking from China’s public sector – traditionally its major client base. It needed to engage investors who had already been burned on Chinese financial stocks during the summer stock rout. While...

India Bond House

IDFC Bank added depth and breadth to the Indian bond markets in 2015, leading the key trend of bringing infrastructure companies to the rupee capital markets to repay high-cost bank debt. The first bonds under an Asian Development Bank-backed credit enhancement scheme, the first road annuity project bonds and the first corporate green bonds in the domestic market were significant landmarks. IDFC was far from the biggest arranger in a market where the line between underwriters and investors is often blurred, but it stood out to deliver solutions...

India Loan House

SBI Capital Markets redefined its supremacy over the Indian loan market in 2015, devising unique solutions for its clients and working closely with regulators to resolve some deep-rooted problems in project financing. India’s largest domestic investment bank dominated the league table, arranging 44.6% of all the country’s syndicated loans during IFR’s review period. Also, it played a crucial role in helping Indian borrowers access financing at a time when many were reeling under slower economic growth. SBI Caps successfully steered the...

India Equity House

Goldman Sachs stood out in the crowded market for Indian equity underwriting in 2015, securing lucrative sole mandates and leading every major government divestment. In the busiest year for equity offerings in a decade, Goldman completed both the biggest block trade and the largest government sell-down, showing that underwriters need not always work for losses. Goldman’s most impressive deal during IFR’s review period was a Rs200bn (US$3.2bn) block in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries from Daiichi Sankyo in April. At US$3.2bn, the deal exceeded the...

Indonesia Capital Markets Deal

Pulling off a sizable equity offering in a country where macroeconomic indicators and the currency are both pointing down is no mean feat. Not only that, HM Sampoerna’s Rp20trn (US$1.4bn) share placement also came with premium pricing, proving that Indonesian companies can actually benefit from meeting the country’s free-float rules. Sampoerna, a subsidiary of Philip Morris, may be one of the country’s most attractive equity plays, but selling the deal was far from being a no-brainer. Global investors turned cool to South-East Asia in 2015, and...

Malaysia Bond House

In a tough year for the Malaysian bond market, CIMB brought a diverse array of offerings to investors, keeping them engaged and ensuring it stayed one step ahead of the competition. After reorganising its team to encourage more integration across product groups, CIMB’s focus on finding solutions for its clients in 2015 resulted in groundbreaking transactions and another strong performance in the league tables. Having introduced overseas Tier 2 capital to the Malaysian market with a Basel III-compliant offering of M$400m (US$91m) for...

Malaysia Capital Markets Deal

Krungthai Bank united two major South-East Asian markets in 2015 with the first Basel III capital issue from a foreign-owned bank in Malaysia’s domestic bond market. The M$1bn (US$228m) 10-year non-call five Basel III compliant Tier 2 issue added new depth to the conservative Malaysian market, establishing the ringgit as an alternative source of capital for other regional lenders. Malaysian investors are known for being highly selective, preferring high-rated instruments from names they know well. Only one cross-border capital-raising...

Philippines Capital Markets Deal

On the surface, August looked like a terrible month for the Philippines’ International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) to issue bonds. Asian financial markets were reeling from a surprise devaluation of the Chinese renminbi, Europe was still recovering after Greece had come close to leaving the Eurozone, and hawkish comments from members of the US Federal Reserve were raising concerns that interest rates would rise soon. Bonds spreads had widened accordingly, creating violent seas for issuers to navigate. Big names, including Chinese state...

Singapore Bond House

In a year when a flight to safety gripped the Singapore dollar bond market, OCBC Bank gained market share against the odds, adapting its strategy to changing market conditions and winning the confidence of investors and issuers. Having put together a nine-strong team to expand in the debt capital markets, OCBC decided early to focus on investment-grade deals. That proved a sound move, given the pervading risk-off sentiment, and OCBC won a string of sizable mandates for high-quality issuers, a number on a sole basis. OCBC soared up the league...

Singapore Capital Markets Deal

DBS Bank’s US$1bn covered bond set a template for Asian banks in a global market that has proven to be resilient in times of crisis. After Australian lenders embraced the format in 2012, DBS’s senior secured benchmark marked the first true covered bond from Asia, providing a guide for other high-rated banks looking to safeguard their access to international funding. When DBS was finally ready to hit the button, after three years of internal preparation and discussions with the city-state’s regulator, elements worthy of a Greek drama began to...

South Korea Capital Markets Deal

The W7.2trn (US$6.12bn) leveraged buyout of South Korean discount retailer Homeplus was Asia’s largest since the 2008 global financial crisis, and the latest illustration of the decisive role that domestic lenders can play in a hotly contested acquisition. The MBK Partners-led consortium emerged victorious with the help of a W4.3trn all-senior LBO loan that reset the metrics for related South Korean financings. The Homeplus LBO loan represented a debt-to-Ebitda ratio of 5.69x, based on the company’s adjusted Ebitda of W755.7bn in 2014. That was...

Singapore Loan House

DBS Bank built on its leading position in Singapore in 2015 through several high-profile acquisition and event-driven financings, resisting intense competition and pricing compression in a slower year for the Lion City. The bank successfully closed deals with a wide following in syndication for a whole host of borrowers. “Our ability to lead and successfully close deals for a well-diversified client base illustrates our excellent capabilities in delivering quality, value-enhancing solutions for both clients and the market, as well as our deeper...

Taiwan Loan House

In an intensely competitive landscape, Taipei Fubon Bank outclassed its peers with its structuring capabilities, playing a proactive role in leveraged buyouts and seizing opportunities beyond the slowing China market. Taiwan was the sole bright spot in a shrinking Asian loan market in 2015, as easier funding conditions for the island’s lenders helped buck a regional decline in deal volumes. However, exposure to China’s private sector was still a sticking point, as country limits and growing fears of corporate defaults underlined the...

Thailand Bond House

Kasikornbank stood out from the pack in a busy year for Thailand’s primary debt markets in 2015 with new structures and innovative solutions for its clients. The race to the top of the league table was one of the tightest on record, with only a 3.3% difference in volumes separating the top four arrangers. However, Kasikornbank pulled away from the rest of the pack in pushing fresh ideas and structures to resolve the specific needs of its clients. Among Kasikornbank’s major accomplishments was the introduction of a new guarantee structure with...

Thailand Capital Markets Deal

Jasmine International’s Bt37bn (US$1.1bn) listing of its broadband infrastructure assets lured foreign investors back to the politically charged Thai equity market and cemented the case for income stocks, despite the uncertainty over global interest rates. Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund was South-East Asia’s biggest IPO in a challenging 2015, with weak currencies and commodity prices weighing on demand for emerging-market risk. Despite that backdrop, the infrastructure fund, similar to a real estate investment trust in other...

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