Battle rages for a place in Portugal’s equity boom
One of the problems for bankers in small markets is the relative scarcity of deals, which means that everyone competes ferociously for what business there is. This is particularly true for landmark transactions that also attract the interest of the big international banks.
Nevertheless Portugal’s investment banks are holding their own, thanks in part to increased international cooperation between prominent local brokerages across Europe.
When bankers at Caixa Banco de Investimento working on the IPO of Galp noticed the similarities between its client and a Finnish oil firm, Neste Oil, they realized that there was a chance that Finnish investors might be interested in the company because it was a business they could easily understand. But without an office in Helsinki or a Finnish client base they were not the best placed bankers to pitch the Finns a deal.
So they turned to the Finnish member of an association of European brokerages of which they were a part, called the European Securities Network, to help them sell their idea in Helsinki.
With the help of the local Finnish brokerage house Mandatum, Caixa Banco de Investimento was able to tap what turned out to be significant demand among Finnish investors for the deal.