Greater support for capital-light investment banking business at UniCredit since the arrival of Andrea Orcel as chief executive in early 2021 is fostering a change in mindset in the firm’s advisory franchise. The region’s best bank for advisory also brought support in terms of product and sector expertise thanks to hires in Munich and Milan. That’s adding to the bank’s existing advantages in terms of geographic coverage, which includes around 50 M&A bankers spread across eight central and eastern European markets.
It is clearly not a suitcase-banking model. Nevertheless, Hedde Draper, UniCredit’s head of CEE corporate finance advisory, is working hard to get engaged in more of the large M&A deals in the region – even while the bank continues to work on transactions that might fall below the size limits of other international investment banks.
These days international corporate exits from Russia are naturally front of mind for many clients in the region.