Credit Suisse and Brazil: Beyond ECM

Credit Suisse’s Brazilian operation has certainly been successful in distinguishing itself in areas other than equities. This year to date the bank has a staggering 40.8% share of M&A volumes (according to Dealogic), and the dominance in this area masks its real fee performance, with Olympio saying Dealogic has a hard time gauging opaque M&A fees, which he suggests are higher than are credited by the data provider. Olympio hints that a large part of its success in M&A beyond its local contacts is its ability to differentiate itself from the locals that have private equity divisions. "We are a pure provider of services – we don’t do principal investment – which I think gives clients comfort [especially] now that other institutions are moving into private equity and doing principal investments. That sometimes creates a perception of potential conflict."