Regional Awards for Excellence 2013: Central America and the Caribbean

Best Investment Bank: Citi Awards for Excellence 2013

Best Investment Bank

Citi is facing increased competition in the small central American and Caribbean countries from other US investment banks and the emerging Latin American investment banks with regional aspirations. However, it still wins Euromoney’s award for excellence in 2013. Its local presence and long-standing relationships will be hard to replicate by the competition and Citi can point to some important transactions in the past year. For example, Citi led Banco Industrial’s $500 million 10-year bond in 2012, the first senior bond issued by a Guatemalan financial institution and just the second ever deal from a Guatemalan financial institution to be sold in the international debt capital markets. The deal was oversubscribed 14.7 times, which enabled Banco Industrial to increase its target amount from $300 million.

Another important DCM transaction was Citi’s lead role in the inaugural dollar-denominated bond of Banco de Reservas de la Republica Dominicana (Banreservas). The deal was more than two times oversubscribed and closed at a yield of 7.125%, the tight end of guidance.

The bank was also very active in the loan markets in the Caribbean and structured export credit agency transactions, such as the $612 million deal with Coface, which also incorporated the multilaterals Cesce ($362 million) and Miga ($250 million), for the construction of the first line of Panama’s new metro system.