“The Austrian and Italian banks all moved to CEE and ended up with untenable positions. They realised that there are no synergies between these countries – being in Serbia, Albania and Bulgaria gets you nowhere”
One Vienna investment banker suggests the likes of Raiffeisen and Erste are just as likely to be bank sellers as buyers
“I was trying to close a real-estate loan refinancing recently where a loan-to-value covenant had been breached. The borrower told its original lenders that it had been approached by private credit funds and that if they weren’t more flexible, they would lose the loan. Many banks are taking on more aggressive structures and leverage multiples because of competition from private credit”
This banker suggests there may be trouble ahead
“It’s not easy to move your business in the US. Even personally – I moved from New York to Florida six years ago and the New York state tax authorities are still hounding me”
Freedom of movement in the US is far from frictionless
“It’s definitely fragile”
This DCM banker is crossing their fingers that investor appetite for Turkey will survive the March local elections
“Egypt had a fantastic run last year and that’s simply because people cannot take their money out… including us”
Euromoney isn’t sure whether this MENA equities investor wants to laugh or cry