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Announced in July 2012, this high-profile deal by CNOOC, the world’s largest independent oil exploration and production company, to acquire Nexen closed in February last year. The deal is the largest ever acquisition of a foreign target by a Chinese company and was three times oversubscribed, with over $18.1 billion of commitments received. Citi advised CNOOC, acting as sole coordinating bank on the $6 billion term loan facility, while Goldman Sachs and RBC advised Nexen.

Vedanta and its bookrunners gave the market a lesson in how to get a deal done in volatile times both through its opportunistic timing and the deal’s execution.

The largest integrated oil and gas producer in Indonesia is government owned and is also the de facto owner of all oil and gas reserves across the country.

Twitter set an IPO landmark.

EdF changed the hybrid game.

While the Twitter float was news across the world, another of Euromoney’s deals of the year took place in a far more esoteric corner of the market. It is not often that a structured-finance transaction attracts almost universal praise from competitors across the market, but Freddie Mac’s Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) did just this in June last year. And in many ways its impact is far greater than that of the much more discussed Twitter deal.

This deal – led by BTG Pactual after an aborted attempt by Barclays the year before – was the first truly project finance structured bond issued in Brazil. It was also the first debenture to be distributed pursuant to rule 144a/RegS in the international market and the first with a final maturity of 15 years (the previous maximum tenor was 12 years). Despite facing strong volatility and sharp deterioration in market conditions (rise in interest rates, change in Brazil’s rating outlook and the prospect of Fed stimulus tapering), Rodovias do Tiete was able to place fully the R$1.065 billion ($440 million) transaction – facilitated by the firm underwriting commitment provided by the lead and co-bookrunners. The volatility in the markets was of consequence: in the same week BNDESPar and Iguatemi cancelled their debenture and real-estate asset-backed securities (CRI) transactions, respectively.

When it launched in March, this was the largest equity sale of the year, popping healthily on its first day.

Frontier markets are in vogue and there are few markets less tapped than Iraq. It is perhaps fitting, then, that in February 2013 Iraq produced the biggest IPO in the Gulf region since the 2008 global financial crisis: the $1.2 billion listing of mobile phone firm Asiacell.

In a landmark deal on November 6 2013, Transnet, a state-owned freight-logistics company, became the first South African company to issue a rand-denominated bond on the international capital markets.

In a lacklustre year for dealmaking in emerging Europe, the acquisition of Czech gas transmission firm Net4Gas by German insurer Allianz and the infrastructure arm of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System stood out by virtue of its complexity and the competitiveness of the bidding process.

In September América Móvil confirmed its reputation as the most innovative Latin American issuer in the international debt capital markets with its inaugural hybrid transaction. The €2.1 billion-equivalent had three tranches across two currencies (the deal had a sterling tranche) and was designed to achieve a 50% equity credit from the rating agencies to strengthen its capital base. This was the first by any Latin American corporate issuer to achieve the objective. The result was a transaction that strengthened the company’s capital base and supported its senior credit ratings and was cheaper than issuing equity. Also, unlike issuing equity, the deal is tax deductible and incurs no shareholder dilution. The structure also provides América Móvil with the flexibility to defer interest without constituting an event of default.