CEE's best bank for financing 2017: Citi

Citi was knocked off the top spot in DCM in emerging Europe last year but remains a dominant force in CEE investment banking thanks to its unrivalled on-the-ground presence in the region. The US house has commercial banking operations in Russia, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic, as well as offices in Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Slovakia. These are coordinated with a 22-strong team in Citi’s CEE banking hub in London. Citi is the winner of our award for the best bank for financing in the region.

“We pride ourselves on being a glo-cal bank,” says Phil Drury, head of capital markets operations EMEA. “We are on the ground with the companies and governments that we finance. We understand the challenges they face because we know the regions so well, and we complement that with an unparalleled global platform. That’s what really differentiates us.”

This coverage is reflected in the scope of the mandates won by Citi last year in both debt and equity capital markets in CEE. In DCM, these comprised multiple transactions from the key markets in the region – Poland, Russia and Turkey – as well as a plethora of deals from smaller countries from Serbia to Azerbaijan. The bank’s client list was equally diverse, covering the full range of sovereign, financial and corporate borrowers from across the credit spectrum. 

Meanwhile, as ECM flows returned to the region, Citi was well-positioned to take advantage of the revival. The bank jumped to the head of the league table last year, thanks to a clutch of mandates on high-profile deals including Moneta Money Bank’s IPO and two follow-on offerings, a $828 million accelerated bookbuild of a 10% stake in Poland’s Bank Pekao in July and the sale by Telenor of $1.5 billion of shares in Russian telecoms group Vimpelcom through a combined equity and exchangeable bond placement. 

Citi also worked on primary equity offerings for Cyfrowy Polsat in Poland, OTP in Hungary, Logo Yazilim and Turk Telekom in Turkey and PhosAgro in Russia, as well as two on convertible bonds for Severstal. 

The bank also demonstrated a continuing appetite to put balance sheet to work in CEE. Citi remains one of the largest lenders to Turkish financial institutions; in the awards period it also participated in the Zl2.7 billion ($715 million) financing of CVC Capital Partners’ purchase of Polish retailer Zabka, a $3 billion revolving credit facility for Kazakh oil producer Tengizchevroil and a ground-breaking €500 million revolving credit facility guaranteed by the World Bank for Ukrainian state gas firm Naftogaz.

Citi’s strong relationships with corporates, banks and public sector clients in CEE are complemented by its dominant presence in flow products such as foreign exchange, custody and transaction banking.