Best M&A house
JPMorgan
The largest and best bank in Peru is Banco de Crédito del Perú. With $5.3 billion in assets and $65 million in profits in 2002 - more than twice its closest competitor - it's the bank everybody wants to deal with. Its ratios have suffered a little of late due to the costs of digesting Banco Santander Central Hispano-Perú, which it bought in December, but ultimately the acquisition will only strengthen its dominant position.
The best debt house is Deutsche Bank, the only bank to have lead managed two bond issues for the country over the past year. It also has about 30% of the trading in the secondary market for Peruvian debt.
JPMorgan wins the best M&A house award for its victory in the great battle over brewery Backus. Both JPMorgan's client, Empresas Polar, and Colombian firm Bavaria wanted to buy Backus, and both accumulated significant stakes. But Bavaria's strategy of buying its stake through two different companies to avoid a mandatory takeover bid failed, and it was forced by the Peruvian courts to pay Polar a huge $568 million for its 25% share (a holding that had cost Polar only $195 million).