Plenty of mandates cropped up across Africa and the Middle East, whereas other regions trailed behind.
The factors that contributed to the global equity market declines of 2022 persist into 2023. Central banks continue to battle inflation with restrictive monetary policy. Geopolitical tensions will remain high for the foreseeable future, and contribute to volatility in the energy and commodity markets and significant disruptions in the global economy and world trade. The retrenchment of the tech sector, and crypto exposure, served as a catalyst for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Adding to this volatility is the reintroduction of a contagion risk in the financial institutions sector.
With a near-term recovery in doubt, global equity markets will remain under pressure as 2023 unfolds. This year’s winners for Best Equity Banks have navigated this difficult environment by providing exceptional guidance to their clients in order to win mandates that helped maintain or expand their league table positions. —DS
BEST BANKS FOR EQUITIES |
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GLOBAL
CITIC Securities
This year marks the first time since 2009 that a Chinese investment bank was ranked the world’s No. 1 IPO bank. The company served as the underwriter and sponsor of four of the largest 10 listings in Sydney Stock Exchange (SSX) and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), CITIC Securities surpassed its global competitors and become the worlds’ share sale arranger in 2022. Driven by its vision to become the most trusted first-class Chinese investment bank and the leading bank in the global market, CITIC has gained internationally recognized track records as the industry leader of the past decade. While China registration-based IPO reform is keen on simplifying the process of going public, the country’s recent regulatory reform makes it challenging for global investment banks to maintain their operational permit and stay compliant. Therefore, the country’s promising IPO pipeline will most likely secure China banks’ leading role for the years to come. —LZ
AFRICA
Rand Merchant Bank
Rand Merchant maintained its top position in the South African equity capital markets with an approximate 19% market share over the past decade, according to Dealogic. The firm also executed on a number of notable deals throughout 2022. It assisted Old Mutual in its employee share ownership plan benefiting Black South Africans in the insurance company’s empowerment program through the issuance of 200 million new shares representing 4% of the company. In the mining sector, the bank guided Anglo American in the sale of the group’s remaining 8% stake in Thungela Resources through an accelerated book build with a value of $115 million. Rand facilitated a $100 million investment by Public Investment Corporation, Africa’s largest asset manager, in Africa Finance Corporation through a private placement. In Nigeria, the bank acted as co-advisor on the $1.6 billion equity listing of BUA Foods, and as joint bookrunner on a $150 million offering for communications firm MTN Group. —DS
ASIA-PACIFIC
Macquarie
Macquarie is a leading global investment bank with over 17,000 employees across its operations in Asia, Americas and EMEA. Macquarie Asset Management had $500 billion in AUM, of which two-thirds are from public markets. Macquarie Asset Management Green Investment Group (GIG) has played a leading role driving the net zero transition of the bank’s portfolio.
In 2022, GIG launched a new specialized offshore wind business, Corio Generation. Its mission is to create world-class offshore wind assets that meet local energy needs, support local economies and facilitate sustainability transition. Corio aims to achieve its goals through consolidating global leading firms and financial expertise. Also in 2022, GIG Energy Transition Solutions Fund acquired BayWa Bioenergy, a specialized biogas platform with operations in Germany and Italy. The biogas platform enables full lifecycle biogas projects to provide biomethane and power to local energy companies, industrial users and energy traders. —LZ
CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE
PKO Bank Polski
Between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sanctions imposed on Russian banks by Western entities and European central banks’ rate hike cycles, CEE’s financial institutions mostly vanished from all global rankings of equity issuances in 2022. Yet, in the face of these monumental challenges, PKO Bank Polski stood out among the herd and found solutions to grow, making it the best equity bank in the CEE region for 2022.
PKO’s Corporate and Investment Banking division achieved double-digit volume growth year-over-year, mostly due to a surge in secondary equity offerings, which reached $752 million for the year, contributing to a 1.2% increase in EMEA’s total market share. Those numbers were helped by a stable Polish private equity market, which allowed the region to keep the activity flowing amid unprecedented challenges. With its unwavering commitment to serving its clients with innovative solutions and exceptional customer service, PKO Bank Polski proved to be the leading equity bank in the CEE region in 2022, providing clients with unique and reliable solutions. —TM
LATIN AMERICA
Itaú BBA
Latin America’s equity market was an outlier, the only major regional market to end the year in positive territory in 2022. Even so, proceeds were down by 61% year-over-year, reflecting the general deals and IPO market slowdown. Itau BBA excelled in the region, participating in 23 deals, raising approximately $1.9 billion. It coordinated six transactions and acted as a bookrunner in several others. Among those deals, Itau BBA’s involvement in Eletrobras, BRF and Eneva’s follow-ons proved key in cementing its leadership in the LatAm markets, earning the nod as Latin America’s Best Bank for Equities for the second year in a row. The Brazilian-based bank led the successful coordination of Arezzo’s FON—six times oversubscribed and one of the most in-demand of recent retail offerings. Itau BBA was also the only lead coordinator in several retail offerings during the period, including Petz, Arezzo and Alpargatas. —TM
MIDDLE EAST
EFG Hermes
With its franchise that extends to 14 countries on four continents, EFG Hermes continues to generate mandates in the region—$11.5 billion in 2022—through its team of highly experienced investment banking specialists that have helped clients navigate the region’s complex markets. Most notably, the bank acted as a joint bookrunner on the $6.1 billion IPO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, which represented the largest listing in the Middle East since 2019 and was part of a broader plan by the Emirate of Dubai to list various state-owned assets on the Dubai Financial Markets. Other significant deals included participation in the $2 billion IPO for petrochemical company Borouge, the largest listing in the history of the Abu Dhabi exchange. Also in Dubai, EFG Hermes acted as a joint bookrunner on $1 billion IPO of toll operator Salik. Additional roles included the $724 million IPO for Empower, a cooling provider in Dubai, and an $82 million IPO for Macro Group, one of the largest cosmeceutical companies in Egypt. —DS
NORTH AMERICA
Morgan Stanley
The downturn in global equity markets in 2022 led to a 60% decline in underwriting, but Morgan Stanley made the best of it. The firm expanded its league table position and is recognized as the Best Equity Bank in North America. The bank acted as a joint bookrunner on American Tower’s $2.4 billion follow-on offering, among the largest equity transactions in the US. While IPO volume dropped 95%, Morgan Stanley secured a mandate in the largest IPO of 2022 as a lead bookrunner for Corebridge’s $1.7 billion offering. This helped the bank take the top position in US IPO proceeds, according to Refinitiv. Additional transactions include acting as the sole underwriter for consumer products firm AmerisourceBergen in a $1.6 billion follow-on offering, while internationally the bank acted as joint bookrunner on the Saudi Aramco Base Oil $1.3 billion IPO. —DS
WESTERN EUROPE
UBS
Europe appears to have borne the brunt of the broad-based slowdown in global equity activity, as the war in Ukraine and central banks’ rate hike cycles combined to bring a 39% decrease year-on-year in the number of equity deals in the region, according to Refinitv. Amid the challenging environment, our Best Bank for Equities in Western Europe for the second year in a row, UBS, used its widely recognized market expertise and long-term vision to strike some of the key deals in the region for the year, helping businesses endure difficult times. One of UBS’s notable achievements was its role as a joint bookrunner on the 8.1 billion euro rights issue of Vonovia. The Swiss bank also acted as lead joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner on Ming Yang Smart Energy, executing a $657 million (pre-shoe)/$707 million (post-shoe) global depositary receipts (GDR) offering. It was the first GDR into EMEA since 2020. Additionally, UBS structured and executed a CHF180 million combined offering of an ABB + CB + delta placement. —TM
