IFR Asia Awards 2020- winners announced

ANZ retained its position as the dominant Antipodean bond house after successfully adapting to an unprecedented year on both sides of the Tasman Sea. “Our priority was to support clients by providing advice, liquidity and issuer access when the market began functioning again, which actually proved quicker than anticipated,” said Paul White, ANZ’s global head of syndication. ANZ challenged for the top of the league table during the awards period, with a 14.1% share of the market. Its 79 trades encompassed a broad range of issuers, including high...

JP Morgan’s achievements in 2020 were all the more impressive given the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. In times of crisis, when companies turn to their most trusted bankers, its market share gains revealed the extent of the transformation in its business in the past couple of years. The world’s biggest bank has kept a relatively low profile in Asia since US regulators began probing its hiring practices in 2013. Even after it reached a settlement in 2016 it did not begin to crow about its successes. But that began to change in 2019. A...

Asia was the first region to feel the full force of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, with borders closed and economies shuttered long before the disease was declared a pandemic. It was also the first to show signs of recovery after countries began to bring the outbreak under control. The capital markets had a big part to play in that response. Across Asia, the primary markets functioned as intended, delivering surplus capital to productive uses. Governments and major issuers enjoyed easy access to capital – especially if they could demonstrate a...

China International Capital Corp added to its reputation as China’s premier investment bank in 2020, playing a key part in introducing new capital raising concepts to the domestic market and narrowing the gap between onshore and offshore markets. CICC’s international expertise and its work cultivating relationships with innovative and private sector companies paid dividends in a year when the Covid-19 crisis accelerated the transformation of China’s capital markets. Having made its name bringing state giants such as China Mobile and...

UBS continued to lead the way in Australian equity issuance in 2020, reacting quickly to the Covid-19 pandemic with tailormade solutions for clients despite increasing market competition. The Swiss bank continued its run at the top of the Australia/New Zealand equity and equity-linked league table after a run of high-profile departures in 2019, including former country head Matthew Grounds, head of investment banking Guy Fowler and equities co-head Chris Williams. Robbie Vanderzeil, chairman of capital markets, also left in early 2020. UBS...

ANZ outperformed its competitors in its home markets and provided much-needed support to borrowers to cope with the pandemic during IFR’s review period, finishing on top of the league tables for Australia and New Zealand once again. The bank underwrote financings to help clients shore up balance sheets and fund opportunistic acquisitions, deepened the market with distribution to institutional investors and continued to promote sustainable finance. “It’s in challenging times like these where we really see the value of our franchise in being able...

JD.com completed an impressive range of capital markets financings in 2020, broadening its reach with global equity and debt investors and capitalising on a global shift to new-economy stocks. The Chinese e-commerce giant returned to the US dollar bond market in January, listed its shares in Hong Kong in June and floated its online healthcare business in December. It navigated a tough regulatory and political environment and repositioned itself as a full-service technology platform, boosting its market value by over 150% over the course of...

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