Citi wins this award in part because it was so successful in securing a role for itself in the region’s big Spac deals. The US bank completed 11 M&A transactions in the year to the end of March 2021, worth a total of $53.3 billion, according to Dealogic data, for a 37% market share.
It was financial adviser and capital markets adviser to FinTech Acquisition Corp V in its $10.4 billion merger with Israel-based social trading platform eToro Group. And the bank carved out a key role as sole financial adviser to Lucid Motors, when the luxury electric vehicle maker, owned by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, merged with Churchill Capital Corp IV, a New York-listed Spac, in a deal worth $24 billion.
For the region to wean itself off a long-standing dependence on oil and gas, it needs good financial advice and strong and steady flows of capital from global investors, and this is where Citi comes in.