BEST BANK
RZB/Raiffeisen International
BEST SMALLER REGIONAL BANK
OTP
BEST BOND HOUSE
Citigroup
BEST LOAN HOUSE
Bank Austria/HVB
BEST EQUITY HOUSE
CSFB
BEST M&A HOUSE
JPMorgan Chase
BEST PROJECT FINANCE HOUSE
Bank Austria/HVB
Citigroup
BEST AT CUSTODY
Citigroup
It has been another excellent 12 months for the central and eastern European markets, which with the CIS countries can lay claim to being the most dynamic and exciting in the world at present. Central European countries have joined the EU and have terrified the French and Dutch populaces with their economic competitiveness.
A popular revolution in Ukraine overthrew a corrupt regime and put in place one that might prove more honest. And we've seen some of the biggest deals in Europe – record IPOs, massive emerging market bonds, and one of the biggest bank mergers and acquisitions to have taken place in Europe so far.
This deal was Italian bank UniCredit's €20 billion acquisition of Germany's HypoVereinsbank (HVB). HVB, in addition to being a middle-size bank in Russia, also owns a majority stake in Bank Austria, which has won Euromoney's best CEE bank award for the past three years.