Western Europe regional awards
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Best Bank and Debt House: Société Générale |
If a merger between Société Générale and BNP Paribas ever became more than rumour one thing would be certain: the combined bank would dominate investment banking in France. The two French banking champions carve out the awards for excellence in France neatly between them and contend strongly in the categories where they come second, except in M&A where such rivals as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are the main competition.
Almost no big merger or acquisition involving a French entity went without the participation of BNP Paribas last year. The bank advised on eight of the 10 largest deals of the year and many more besides across the whole range of transaction types including foreign acquisitions, real estate, private equity, defence mandates, open market purchases and divestments. BNP Paribas advised on more than $104 billion-worth of deals over the past year, far more than its competitors in terms of value and number.
Although SG tops the league tables in ECM by both volume and number of deals, the bank was absent from some of the highest-profile deals of the year, including important establishment transactions such as the $6.5