It is not often that markets have a year like the high-yield bond market has just had. The combination of low global interest rates and the resultant search for yield has meant that appetite for the asset class has soared. It has also meant that high yield has become a global market – European issuance grew 73% in 2011 by May to become an important part of the sector. Credit Suisse has demonstrated innovation and strength across the board and consequently is Euromoney’s global high-yield house for the year.
"In high yield we are a global firm," says Marc Warm, managing director in high-yield capital markets at Credit Suisse in New York. "We are not a US firm with other activities. We have a strong franchise on both sides of the Atlantic." This is reflected in the bank’s involvement in the largest deals in the market this year: in the US the $3 billion Reynolds trade in October (which was the largest LBO of 2010 and second-largest high-yield transaction globally in 2010) and in Europe KabelBW in March this year – the largest high-yield deal of 2011 to date – and the Wind refinancing in November, which was the largest high-yield deal of 2010 and largest European secured note ever.