Lead banks sit pretty atop volatile market | Capital raising results tables
Citigroup and Deutsche Bank trade places at the top of this year's Euromoney overall capital raising poll, with Citigroup reclaiming the top spot and Deutsche dropping to second. Completing the podium places is Barclays Capital, which continues its steady rise up the rankings (it finished ninth in 2002 and fifth last year). One impressive mandate was acting as joint bookrunner on Autostrade's €6.5 billion euro and sterling bond issue in May — one of the few highlights of the summer, and a deal that suggests that Barclays Capital is being rewarded for leading with its balance sheet.
But perhaps most significant, the list of top 10 banks for capital raising in 2004 is identical to that for 2003. Last year's only new entrant, ABN Amro, consolidates its position, again ranking seventh.
In clients' minds, capital raising should be done through an increasingly self-selecting group of investment banks that can provide balance sheet, global distribution, and secondary market trading and support, be that in bonds, loans, foreign exchange, or any other related product.
"The big picture is quite simple," says David Poole, COO of research and advisory firm ClientKnowledge.