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Block heads
Plenty of banks have bought their way up the league tables with accelerated risk business. Building market share and profitability is far rarer. Yet Credit Suisse gained as others watched issuance fall – and it is IFR’s Americas Equity House of the Year.
Hot laps
Call it extreme due diligence. Ahead of Ferrari’s US$982.4m New York listing in October, Wall Streeters buckled up in production cars driven by Formula 1 test drivers and hurtled around Ferrari’s private race track in Maranello at speeds of up to 300km/h.
Defying sentiment
Mexican auto parts maker Nemak’s Ps11.9bn (US$753.8m) IPO made a splash in an otherwise terrible year for Latin America’s equity markets by bringing the largest flotation of 2015 despite tough market conditions.
Precision pricing
A rise in mandated business and drop in risk trades in 2015 played right to Morgan Stanley’s strengths. But the bank’s success in bringing the right companies to market at the best times and with the correct valuation were what made it IFR’s EMEA Equity House of the Year.
Follow that
Few deals can lay claim to breaking records, market perceptions and the hearts of those not involved. Santander’s €7.5bn capital increase achieved all that in a single evening.
Speed demons
In a year of extreme market volatility, Morgan Stanley managed to use its Asian expertise and excellent read of market sentiment to capture almost every short window to raise funds for clients big and small. For its unparalleled execution in difficult markets, Morgan Stanley is IFR’s Asia-Pacific Equity House of the Year.
Retail returns
The ¥1.435trn (US$12bn) trio of IPOs by Japan Post Group entities in October was years in the making and, not coincidentally, finally achieved under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he attempts to boost retail ownership of domestic stocks. In one step, over ¥1trn of stock went to individuals.
Back in 1992, IFR’s Duncan Balsbaugh got a ringside seat from his position on Morgan Stanley’s London trading desk to watch George Soros’s attack on sterling. They say you can’t fight central banks, but as Soros showed, you can – and you should!
A plunge in commodity prices has left many energy exploration and production companies locked out of markets and struggling to refinance. Some are starting to get creative in an effort to ensure continued funding for their ongoing businesses.
Guidelines issued by the Fed, designed to limit leverage and reduce systemic risk, have made it harder for banks to compete in the leveraged lending business in the US. But while the leaders in the business have lost market share this year, lending remains healthy, with those borrowers looking for leverage able to find other options.
The central banks were once Olympian gods but have descended to be among men, and in doing so have lost many of their powers.
Low interest rates and rising equity valuations, and an investor base desperate for paper, drove an increase in exchangeable bond issuance in 2015. Corporates hesitated to issue bonds convertible into their own stock but leapt at the chance to use large cross-holdings for cheap financing.
The privatisation plan Narendra Modi touted when he came to power in India 18 months ago has failed to take off quite as the pro-business premier promised. Doubts over his reform agenda are mounting, but are they justified?
If 2015’s banking narrative was supposed to centre on a defensive strategy re-think, replete with slashed assets and diminished headcount, no one told Japan’s ambitious commercial mega-banks.
The dramatic rout that followed the latest bull run in China’s equity markets was a case of history repeating itself. Regulators are still grappling to understand the root cause, but they must realise there is only one solution – and it’s surprisingly simple.
Fast-growing companies seeking to build confidence in their business models and raise financing are increasingly turning towards private fundraising rounds. So far, the trend has been limited but it could become to IPOs what Uber is to public transport.
Securitisation has come a long way since the dark days of the financial crisis, when politicians – and many regulators – laid the blame for much of the chaos squarely at its feet. With both groups now broadly understanding the role it can play in stimulating lending, securitisation is on the march again, with a new and novel type of loan being considered for use in the asset pool.