Anyone considering what the impact of a pickup in M&A activity might have on the global DCM market need look no further than last year’s astonishing $49 billion eight-tranche bond take-out that backed Verizon’s purchase of Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.
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| The extended five-year trough we had from 2009 to 2013 resulted in significant pent-up strategic demand Gary Posternack |
While no one is suggesting that there is another $50 billion bond deal in the works, the M&A backlog in investment grade DCM is now that size and is being seized upon by DCM bankers as a rich source of imminent deal flow in both investment grade and high yield.
“M&A has taken centre stage as a driver of supply,” says Marc Fratepietro, head of US investment grade coverage at Deutsche Bank. “M&A-driven DCM issuance was down in the first half of the year due to a lag factor and because a good number of M&A deals have been more equity-heavy. We are now seeing more debt-heavy M&A announced and see an investment-grade M&A financing backlog of at least $50 billion.”
Despite still surging equity markets, there is certainly a sense within DCM that the bond market is set to take a more central role in deal structures.
