Awards for Excellence 2015: Best global infrastructure house

Today, more than ever, excellence in infrastructure means being able to demonstrate capabilities across bonds and advisory, in addition to lending. It is a mix that HSBC and Société Générale have previously demonstrated effectively – they have both won this award in recent years and were shortlisted again this year. However, the increasing strength and diversity across products at Crédit Agricole CIB was even more impressive this year.

Lending remains at the core of Crédit Agricole’s infrastructure franchise. This year it arranged and hedged loans such as a £2.2 billion financing for a new train fleet in the UK, and the €92 million financing for the Canal de Navarra water project. The latter was the first Spanish public-private partnership since the eurozone crisis. 

But the bank’s increasing prowess outside lending was evident in the first German project bond with credit enhancement from the European Investment Bank, a €750 million privately placed deal with tenors of up to 29 years for the A7 highway. 

Its advisory mandates also encompassed a UK energy-for-waste public-private partnership built by Mercia Waste Management, and a €950 million bond and loan refinancing for Redexis, the Spanish gas distribution company.