Société Générale wins our award for best project finance house of the year in the face of stiff competition, not least from CSFB, which has continued with much of the work which helped it win the prize last year.
The ability to execute has been crucial over the past 18 months as the number of banks committed to the sector has continued to diminish, and with it the amount of capital readily available. That coincided with a near-credit crunch last year, especially in the US, with calamitous developments stemming from California's power crisis, and with an increased need for project finance capital from Asia, a region emerging from its own crisis at a time when the big liquidity providers were distracted by problems closer to home.
Throughout this tumultuous period, banks such as CSFB and SocGen have held firm their commitment, but SocGen wins this year for innovative deals worldwide.
In September it closed a deal for PG&E Turbine Master Trust. It has the headline-grabbing advantage of being the largest-ever project finance deal in the US at $7.8 billion, although the figure is somewhat misleading as well over $7 billion comes as commitments that were never expected to be drawn.