Best bank
Akbank Best debt house
Morgan Stanley
Best equities house
Garanti Securities
Best M&A house
Citigroup
Best local partner
TSKB
Several Turkish banks have turned in strong performances in the past 12 months, with Garanti and HSBC doing particularly well as the economy picked up after a tough 2002.
However, Akbank has set new heights for the sector.
Akbank?s profit in 2003 was TL1,508 trillion ($1 billion), which was the highest ever in the history of Turkish banking. Its record-breaking performance was in part attributable to its consumer loans business, which grew by 328%. It is now the number one bank in consumer loans, mortgages and car loans. It is the number one provider of corporate and commercial loans as well, and its Turkish lira loan business grew by 183% in 2003.
Key loans included a $200 million funding for Turkcell, arranged in February 2004. Akbank?s securities custody business also grew by 64%. Its mutual fund business grew by 99%, bringing the bank to the number two position in the market.
Akbank?s net fees and commission income grew by 167% in the first quarter of 2004 year on year, in large part thanks to its credit card business.
However, its great year must in some part be attributed to the strong performance of Turkey?s government bonds ? 49% of Akbank?s assets are government securities, according to Fitch, which makes the bank vulnerable to volatility in emerging market debt such as was seen in April and May.
However, its own loan portfolio seems quite safe, with a non-performing loan ratio of just 1.3%. It is also the first Turkish bank to announce its corporate governance principles.
In the first quarter of 2004, the bank continued this remarkable level of growth, with net income rising by 269% year on year.
Garanti Securities wins the best equities house award.
The bank in general also had an excellent year, with loans growing by 40% and net income up by 177%. In equities, the bank is the clear market leader in IPOs since 1990, having done twice as many as its nearest competitor. The bank almost doubled its equity trading volume and grew its market share to 4.2% in 2003, up from 3.2% in 2002.
The best local partner award goes to TSKB.
The bank, which specializes in IPOs, was faced with the bleak prospect of a year without IPOs in 2003. It decided instead to specialize in the evaluation and restructuring of troubled companies.
It did consultancy work for about 20 different holding groups as part of the Istanbul Approach, a voluntary corporate restructuring scheme supported by the World Bank.
The bank also won a number of privatization mandates, including a strategic study of Halkbank before its privatization, and the valuation of Kutahaya Fertilizer company and Bursa Gaz. It arranged a $70 million project finance loan for the acquisition of the latter.
Morgan Stanley wins the best debt house award, having arranged the most deals for the sovereign. WestLB deserves credit for its strong performance in the loan market, where it arranged a total of 18 deals, according to Dealogic.
The Turkish loan market seems to have attracted arrangers from all over the world, with Rabobank, Saudi National Commercial Bank, Scotia Bank, Sumitomo, Bank of New York and HSBC, to name but a few, all arranging deals in the past 12 months.
Citigroup wins the best Turkish M&A house award.
It advised Tupras, the Turkish petrol refinery, when it was bought by an international consortium including Russian oil company Tatneft, for about $1.3 billion. It also advised Tekel on the acquisition of its beverage division, again by an international consortium, for around $292 million.
