BEST BANK
Siam Commercial Bank
BEST EQUITY HOUSE
Phatra Securities
BEST DEBT HOUSE
Standard Chartered Bank
BEST M&A HOUSE
JPMorgan
Thailand’s banking sector has improved considerably since the dark days after the devaluation of the Thai baht in 1997. One of the most impressive financial performances has come from Thailand’s oldest bank, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), winner of this year’s best bank in Thailand award.
A full-service bank, serving retail and corporate customers alike, SCB offers corporate and personal lending, retail and wholesale banking, foreign currency operations, international trade financing, cash management, custodial services, credit and charge card services, as well as investment banking services.
By total assets, SCB is Thailand’s eighth-largest bank but its second most profitable in absolute terms, demonstrating the fact that SCB’s management is adept at making its bank’s assets work much harder than most others. This fact is reflected in SCB’s return on average assets for the financial year ended 2004, which, at around 2.5%, is some way ahead of the competition. Return on average equity was 23.5% for the same period.
Phatra Securities again wins the award for best equity house in Thailand. Following its highly successful management buyout from a joint venture with Merrill Lynch, Phatra has lost none of its blue-blooded reputation or skill. In the 12 months under review, it again topped the equity league tables, with a 17% market share, managing four equity deals for a total value of $325 million. Chief among these deals was the $796 million IPO of Thai Oil, Thailand’s largest ever IPO. Phatra has also completed the largest Thai IPO in 2005, the $295 million issue from Glow Energy.
In addition, Phatra completed the first-ever Thai accelerated offering, transacted overnight for mobile telecommunications company True. Phatra’s strong start to 2005 is set to continue, with a pipeline of new issues that includes Thai Beverage, TOT Public, and Egat, Thailand’s electricity generating authority.
The award for best debt house in Thailand goes to Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) for its performance in both local currency bonds and loans as well as G3 syndicated loans.
In all, StanChart raised $955 million from 13 syndicated loans and local currency bonds. It ranked third in bond issuance but was the leading international house, with a 14% market share. In syndicated loans, StanChart beat even the local competition to rank first with $680 million from nine issues.
Most notable among the bond issues managed by StanChart were the $370 million equivalent Thai baht debentures for Thai Airways International and the $150 million floating rate certificates of deposit (FRCD) for Krung Thai Bank.
In syndicated loans, StanChart arranged a $150 million and ¥11 billion ($101 million) FRCD for the Government Housing Bank and a Bt1 billion ($24 million) and ¥14 billion loan facility for Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia.
In last year’s awards, so feeble was the M&A activity in Thailand that the award for best M&A house was withdrawn. It is a sign of a growing M&A culture in Thailand that there were several high-quality submissions this year.
The award this year goes to JPMorgan, which ranked first in the Thai M&A league table having advised on five deals worth a combined $1.04 billion. More important, JPMorgan’s book of business was impressive, including the exclusive mandate to advise Dutch/Belgian banking group Fortis on its strategic investment in Muang Thai Life, worth $48 million, the exclusive adviser to DBS on the highly successful $708 million three-way merger between Thai Military Bank, IFCT and DBS Thai Danu, as well as advising Thai Oil on two acquisitions, Thai Lube Base and Thai Paraxylene, worth a combined $161 million.
