Latin America’s best bank for advisory: BofA Securities

With volumes in the capital markets subdued in 2023, there was increased client interest in private markets and M&A transactions. BofA Securities – led by Augusto Urmeneta, president of Bank of America for Latin America and head of Latin America global corporate and investment banking – embraced this challenge and helped clients tap alternative sources of liquidity. M&A was an important strategic option for many companies and BofA’s deal list featured 26 clients in five countries with both cross-border and domestic transactions, which accounted for a 9.5% market share in terms of fee revenues ($52.2 million).

In Brazil – the largest and most important market in Latin America – BofA faces very strong local competition, but the firm used its international network to win some important mandates. It was exclusive financial adviser to Natura & Co in its sale of Aesop to L’Oréal – one of the highest profile M&A transactions of the year.