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The Asset Magazine
The Asset Triple A Awards 2007
The Asset Jan-2008 By The Asset

Best Bank
Citi

 
Citi has shown leadership across a broad spread of banking activities inluding corporate finance, investment banking, advisory, financing and structuring. In winning The Asset Triple A Best Bank Award for the eighth year in a row, Citi has manifested excellent achievements in equity, fixed income, FX, treasury and commodities.
 
Citi has built a franchise in all these areas that is unmatched by its peers. Despite the challenges that the banking market faced and continues to face, it has stood behind its clients in the region, offering them the opportunity to realize their business goals.
 
Highly commended: HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank
 

 

Aamir Rahim, managing director and co-head,
fixed income, currencies and commodities,
Asia-Pacific, Citi – Best Bank
 
Jon Pratt (left), managing director and head, debt capital markets, Asia and Soofian Zuberi, managing director and head, equity capital markets, Asia, Merrill Lynch – Best Investment Bank

Best Investment Bank Merrill Lynch

 
The Asset Triple A best deals and house awards are about being the ‘best’. But this is not necessarily just a function of which bank has the most deals or arranges the biggest transactions. If that were the case, The Asset would simply turn to the league table providers to help decide its annual winners. To be the best is about giving the most appropriate advice and providing the best execution from the perspective of issuers and investors.
 
This year’s choice for The Asset Triple A Best Investment Bank is also based on the evolving market for financing. The days of easy credit have now been replaced by increased risk aversion. More than ever, the ability to structure well and tap new sources of liquidity – including what is the fast-growing private financing space – are becoming increasingly vital especially with the emergence of the private sector in markets such as China and India.
 
Our first time winner, Merrill Lynch, saw the growing importance of growth capital two years ago. Applying a consistent and committed approach to this belief, it has stood out – and in a year like 2007 with the difficulties in the public market – it is in the editors’ view – redefining the borders of Asia’s capital markets.
 
Highly commended: Citi, Morgan Stanley, UBS

Best Borrower      Export-Import Bank of Korea

 
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) wins The Asset Triple A Award for Best Borrower in 2007 as it raised nearly US$6 billion during the year amid the US subprime problem. What sets Kexim apart is the significant diversification of its investor base as it enters the euro market and tactically tapping new and exotic markets for financing for an Asian borrower such as the Mexican peso and Turkish lira, which allowed it to raise funds at competitive rates when the US dollar bond market was virtually closed because of the subprime crisis. It also tapped the Brazilian real market in late 2006.
 
“We hope to go back to the Mexican peso market regularly in the coming years,” says Jin-kyung Kim, director-general for the international finance department at Kexim. “This market is relatively stable and not affected by the global market turmoil, so it provides effective pricing.”
 
Going forward, Kexim will be looking at further diversifying its funding base. “We are considering the possibility of arranging deals in sterling, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars and some other Asian currencies,” says Kim. “Our major consideration in our fund raising activity is how deep the market is.”
 
He adds: “Of course, we are not happy with the current market condition, but we have to live with it. The investors are calling the shots this time and we have to respect what they’re asking.”
 
Highly commended: ICICI Bank
 
Jin-kyung Kim, director-general, international finance department, Export-Import Bank of Korea –Best Borrower
 
From left: Stephen Williams, co-head, global capital markets, Asia-Pacific; Roderick Sykes, managing director and head, debt capital markets, Asia-Pacific global markets; and Phil Lipton, managing director and head, syndicated finance, Asia-Pacific global capital markets, HSBC – Best Debt House

Best Debt House
HSBC

 

In awarding The Triple A Best Debt House Award for 2007 to HSBC, The Asset recognizes the bank for successfully bringing together the whole spectrum of the debt financing business in a seamless manner – from loans to local currency bonds to G3 bonds and securitization.

Issuers turned to HSBC to tap the different segments of the market as volatile conditions shifted risk appetite from one product to the other. The ability to fulfill the financing needs of Asian issuers was vital especially in a year such as in 2007. HSBC has delivered and stood out, including tapping a combination of bonds and loans simultaneously.

 
Highly commended: Citi, Standard Chartered Bank

Best Bond House
Citi

Despite a challenging credit environment, which saw the total issuance match the level in 2006, Citi has managed to maintain a broad geographic footprint in G3 bond market successfully completing several deals in both South Korea and India – the two largest markets in 2007.

 
Citi’s strength is in the number of repeat mandates and the range of issuers – including arranging the only Triple C bond offering in the region in 2007 – thus continually bringing innovation and sophistication to the Asian markets. It exhibited a balanced performance across eight countries in different types of instruments: fixed or floating rates and senior or subordinated debt, and in all three issuing currencies. And when the US subprime market began to unravel, Citi still managed to close deals under exceptionally difficult conditions.
 
Highly commended: Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Merrill Lynch
 
Paul Au (left), director and head, Asia debt syndicate, and Adrian Khoo, managing director, Asia fixed income capital markets, Citi – Best Bond House
 
Pat Waranimman, managing director and head, syndications, Southeast Asia, global markets, Standard Chartered Bank – Best Loan House

Best Loan House
Standard Chartered Bank

 
For the second year in a row, Standard Chartered Bank bested the competition to win The Asset Triple A Best Loan House Award. In a year when the total loan volume reached a record level, Standard Chartered continued to show its leadership in arranging deals from plain vanilla corporate financings to non-recourse real estate loans to the more high profile acquisition and structured finance, which were behind last year’s most exciting M&A transactions.
 

Standard Chartered’s strength is particularly notable when it comes to the sell down coverage and it has consistently achieved an average final take of a single digit. Despite a more volatile market environment, it continues to win and underwrite new deals – several on a sole basis – as well as repeat mandates.

 

Highly commended: Citi, HSBC

Best Equity House
UBS

 
2007 was a record year for Asia’s equity capital markets and UBS dominated this space by arranging the most important deals in China and India, which contributed most of the volumes during the period. UBS was a joint sponsor and joint lead manager in the 66.8 billion renminbi (US$9.3 billion) A-share IPO for PetroChina, the world’s largest IPO in 2007.
 
In winning The Asset Triple A Best Equity House Award for the second consecutive year in 2007, UBS also exhibited a strong showing in Southeast Asia with a riveting market share in the Philippines. And, although it is not a US investment bank, it had a breakout year for companies listing in the US.
 
High commended: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley
  
Samuel Kendall, executive director, equity capital markets,
UBS – Best Equity House
 
  
From left: Ho Weng Yew, executive director; Neil Galloway, managing director and head, mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital markets, Asia; and Sangameswaran Manikkan, executive director, ABN AMRO – Best M&A House
 

Best M&A House
ABN AMRO

 
ABN AMRO’s star first began to shine in 2006 and then shone brighter still in 2007 with its involvement in the year’s defining M&A transactions. M&A plays an increasingly important role in Asia as the region continues to broaden its reach.
 
The Asset believes that deals that merit particular recognition are those that are transformational for the acquirer. ABN AMRO brought to successful completion such defining deals as the Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus and the privatization of Maxis Communications. Indeed, ABN AMRO punched way above its weight in winning The Asset Triple A Award for Best M&A House for the first time in 2007.
 
Highly commended: Morgan Stanley, UBS
  
  
  
  
The Asset Magazine

‘Our aim is to be an operator'

The Asset Nov-2007 
By Daniel Yu

Jackson Tai, vice-chairman and CEO of DBS Bank, is stepping down later this year after five years at the helm of Southeast Asia's largest banking group. Having joined the bank at the height of the Asian financial crisis eight years ago as CFO, Tai faced a raft of challenges as he navigated choppy waters to strengthen the bank's operations while setting sight on the bank's bold ambition to become an Asian regional bank. It was

The Asset Magazine

CIC seeks to expand investment range

The Asset Apr-2008 
By Clare Jim

Refuting international criticism, China's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) claims to be one of the most transparent funds in the world. Jesse Wang, CIC's executive vice-president and chief risk officer said at a conference in Hong Kong in April that sovereign wealth funds are not treated fairly. "Many threats are allegedly posed by sovereign wealth funds, but there is no strong evidence to logically support these beliefs," he says.

The Asset Magazine

The commodity offensive

The Asset Apr-2008 
By Rodney Diola

Soaring prices have made commodities a compelling asset class to get into. Exchanges are doing a roaring trade when it comes to different types of commodity products whether they be agricultural, metal or energy. Many of the biggest commodity exchanges in the region, however, are still off-limit to foreign investors.