To purchase printed copies or a PDF of this report, please email leonie.welss@lseg.com and shahid.hamid@lseg.com
Spanish steps: Labels are notably tricky to shake off, but in a year when echoes of the eurozone’s peripheral crisis resonated loudly, the Kingdom of Spain successfully managed to reposition itself. For executing one of the biggest European sovereign funding programmes with flair, Spain is IFR’s SSAR Issuer of the Year.
A sharp deterioration in conditions posed a major challenge to borrowers in 2018. Nordea’s funding team had the additional hurdle of a strategic re-domiciliation to Finland, but the bank’s ability to navigate the pitfalls with foresight and flair makes it IFR’s Financial Issuer of the Year.
In full bloom
Bayer’s US$66bn acquisition of Monsanto required an enormous fundraising effort across asset classes. Each slice was market-defining, but the company’s deft strategy meant that each was easily absorbed by an enthusiastic investor base. Bayer is IFR’s Corporate Issuer of the Year.
The loan and bond financing backing the carve-out of Refinitiv not only defined 2018, but seemed to hold the fate of the debt markets in the balance. For a successful conclusion to a dramatic saga, the deal is IFR’s Financing Package of the Year.
A decade on from the demise of Lehman Brothers – and with a new generation of leaders at the helm – the banking sector has reached a turning point. Legacy issues from the crisis have faded in intensity and, while some potentially formidable challenges lie on the horizon, the industry narrative has at last shifted to thinking about the future.
Only a small number of European banks have the firepower and geographic reach to compete with rampant US rivals. The rest must either focus on pockets of excellence or merge.
Over the decades, Japanese banks have been criticised, fairly or unfairly, as having a boom-bust approach to international business. How do the international ambitions of Japan’s major financial groups stack up today amid ongoing monetary stimulus at home and a challenging environment overseas? Is it different this time?
With the US Federal Reserve shrinking its balance sheet and the ECB emerging from quantitative easing, the bond market is likely to present opportunities in corporate debt.
The barriers around China’s capital markets are coming down, just as politicians threaten to escalate Sino-US tensions into an all-out trade war.
2018 has been an exciting year for Green finance. It may not have been a record-breaking year for issuance, but the product has conquered new markets such as Schuldschein and commercial paper.
