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Royal flush
Everyone battled volatility in 2015. ABN AMRO also faced a looming IPO. For running one of the year’s deepest and most diverse funding programmes in tandem with that process, ABN AMRO is IFR’s Issuer and Financial Issuer of the Year.
Steady hand
The European Stability Mechanism was given the immense task of raising billions of euros in extremely volatile markets. For not only succeeding, but also turning the challenge into an opportunity, the ESM is IFR’s Sovereigns, Supranationals, Agencies and Regions Issuer of the Year.
Pulling the levers
Even great businesses can suffer when their capital structure is carrying too much leverage. For executing an astonishing capital turnaround that culminated in a successful IPO, First Data is IFR’s Corporate Issuer of the Year.
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.