| Also shortlisted in this category: |
JPMorgan
In choosing the best global equity house this year, Euromoney encountered a dilemma: should the winner be the bank that distinguished itself as the lead of leads in a world of multiple bookrunners or the one that finally stepped out of the shadows to take centre stage? Citi or JPMorgan? Although Citi impressed as the left-hand bookrunner on a number of the deals that redefined the IPO market, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Apollo, Fortress, Brevan Howard and, as Euromoney goes to press, Blackstone, the bank that stunned its peers with its stellar performance and stole the show was JPMorgan.
Few can think of when JPMorgan last topped the league tables in equity capital markets. However, for much of 2006 and 2007 it has sat comfortably at or near the top globally, in the US and in EMEA.
It certainly hasn’t always been this way. "Six years ago JPMorgan was the laggard," admits Viswas Raghavan, head of capital markets, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific at JPMorgan. "Last year we were number six in the US and in Asia and Japan we were perennially nowhere.