Although having an established global presence, Barclays Capital has distinguished itself as top arranger and underwriter of Euroloans, a lead held consistently since 1996. Developing organically and without the acquisition of any other organization or client base, the bank has over the last few years mirrored the growth of syndicated lending on the continent with an increasing move away from being UK-based to becoming truly European.
The bank is positioned as bulge-bracket lead arranger, and has recently demonstrated its foothold in Europe across a range of sectors though its lead roles in arranging loans for Carrefour, Infineon and France Telecom. “Although distinctions are expected to be ironed out over the next number of years, Europe is presently a far less homogenous market than the US ,” says Tim Ritchie, global head of syndicated lending at Barclays Capital. “As such, success there demands a flexible approach, and good regional identification of pockets of liquidity.”
In keeping with the global trend towards one-stop shopping in loan and bond markets, Barclays believe it is important to view loan capabilities as assisting in building a platform for fixed income business. “We aim to focus on delivering our loan product as part of a range of products,” says Ritchie, pointing out that the bank’s loan syndication facilities were merged with debt securities as far back as 1996.
One of the outstanding deals that Barclays has been involved with at both the primary and the refinancing stage was Vodafone’s ground-breaking $14 billion loan, the then-largest Euroloan ever. It was also prominent in structuring and executing the loan for Vodafone AirTouch’s hostile acquisition of Mannesman AG, setting at e30 billion a record-size syndicated bank financing.
Addressing the question of convergence, “I don’t think the bond market and the loan market will become one,” says Ritchie. “There are different types of investor, different structures and so forth. So I think the convergence is all in how people are marrying the different markets and how they are being used in a complementary way, rather than becoming one.”
