Awards for Excellence 2015: Best emerging markets M&A house

Despite the fact M&A and equities are relatively capital-light businesses, European banks have lost market share to their US peers in the global origination business over the last year, driven by quieter home markets and intensifying pressures to downsize global sales and trading operations.

Nevertheless, Credit Suisse has successfully competed across key emerging markets against the might of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi, as well as European peers, led by Deutsche Bank and UBS. 

Credit Suisse has won an outsized share of fees relative to its deal volume – highlighting the financial health of its origination business – and has led with the quality of its advice, industry knowledge and execution capabilities, rather than leveraging client favours and balance-sheet facilities. That’s no mean feat in an era of fee-compression and bookrunner inflation, especially in Asia, with a clutch of wholesale banks and broker-dealers generating league-table credit in landmark equity and M&A deals thanks to client relationships, despite modest execution roles.