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Breaking away:
In a tricky year littered with IPO landmines, Goldman Sachs broke clear of its peers in the league table and adapted most successfully to a changing ECM landscape. The firm is IFR’s North America Equity House of the Year.
Where’s the beef? Beyond Meat’s IPO relied on a vegan vision for the future. Ethan Brown, founder and CEO, evangelised on the health and ecological benefits of his products during eight days of marketing to more than 350 accounts. His message dovetailed nicely with the objectives of an emerging class of environmental, social and governance investors. Best known for its Beyond Burger, a pea-based burger that mimics the look and taste of meat, Beyond Meat is building its company as part of a global sustainable food system for decades to come....
More water please Water is essential for life, but in the US stock market water utilities have long registered as little more than an afterthought to investors. At the time of writing, water represented only about 4% of the US$1trn US utilities sector, which is dominated by power and gas companies with greater scale and often higher growth prospects. The subsector’s neglected status was apparent when Aqua America, a water and wastewater utility serving more than three million people in eight US states, agreed to buy gas distributor Peoples...
Open for bids
Latin American ECM in 2019 was defined by Brazil, as the region’s largest economy finally hit its stride after moderating interest rates ushered in a new wave of investment. But the rest of the region proved more challenging. For excellence across the continent, Bank of America is IFR’s Latin America Equity House of the Year.
Down payment MercadoLibre fueled its transformation from e-commerce pureplay to integrated payments and fulfilment platform with a US$2bn fundraising that capitalised on appeal from both institutional and strategic investors. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley sewed up the funding in just one day in March, placing 2.1m new shares on a Monday evening at US$480 apiece, virtually flat to market despite a 7% run-up in the stock over the one-day marketing period. The full exercise of the greenshoe took proceeds up to US$1.15bn....
Cornerstone Emerging market payments company Network International delivered on every count at its IPO with a differentiated equity story offering strong growth, a wealth of interest that translated into a bulging book of demand and even a pop in the aftermarket. The all-secondary £1.2bn London listing that saw Emirates NBD Bank selling with Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic also stands out for its ambitious 60% upsize and value-enhancing cornerstone investment. Network International was only the fourth EMEA IPO to launch in the year when...
Just the ticket Private equity’s return on investment is driven by finding a profitable route to exit in the shortest number of stops. KKR and a trio of minority financial investors proved the perfect passengers for UK train ticket reseller Trainline to exit a nearly five-year investment within as many months and in three simple steps. Having listed 65% of the business in a £1.1bn London IPO in June priced at 350p, the stock had gained nearly 40% to peak at 489p on September 13, pretty much begging the sponsors to take money off the table....
World class Thai conglomerate Asset World’s record Bt48bn (US$1.57bn at the time) IPO capped a remarkable year for the country’s capital markets, underlining investors’ desire to gain exposure to a resilient economy that offers real diversification away from China. The hospitality and property company’s listing was Thailand’s largest ever corporate IPO and tied with the 2013 listing of True Telecommunications Growth Infrastructure Trust as the country’s biggest on record. Asset World also priced at a premium valuation, raising the bar for new...
Concept creation Huatai Securities’ US$1.7bn landmark sale of global depositary receipts in London marked the launch of a long-awaited trading link between Shanghai and London, deepening ties between the two financial centres and opening a new channel for Chinese companies to raise funds. The listing beat expectations in every way. Support from UK and global funds – including some US$100m orders – allowed Huatai to sell more stock than originally planned, and secondary liquidity has been surprisingly strong with a healthy amount of stock...
Two-peat
While US ECM market share is consolidating among a few large banks, Cowen has managed to differentiate its practice by supporting companies through their growth stages and beyond, making it IFR’s US Mid-Market Equity House of the Year.
Matchmaker
An ability to source unique investor demand for sellers willing to be flexible marked out Jefferies in 2019. The bank created successes in a year littered with failures and is IFR’s EMEA Mid-Market Equity House of the Year.
Trade tensions between Beijing and Washington are threatening to spill over into capital markets, with some policymakers even calling for a ban on Chinese listings in the US. Just how far can it go?
As Japanese fund managers broaden their search for yield, international issuers are finding they no longer need to spend the time and money to prepare local language documentation. Old habits die hard, however, and lengthy marketing periods are still standard practice.
Primary bond markets have proved a testing ground for the transition from inter-bank offered rates to new alternative risk-free rates. But the abundance of issuance referenced to Sonia and SOFR should not obscure the unfortunate fact that most of the proceeds have immediately been swapped back to Libor by the borrowers.
Is the traditional green bond market threatened by the emergence of transition bonds, SDG bonds, general-purpose bonds with environmental targets and other debt classes intended to encompass wider environmental goals? Does it matter if new market segments are more effective at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases?
As another painful year for Europe’s banks draws to a close, the need for big bank consolidation has never been greater.
