Best bank:
Svenska Handelsbanken
Best debt house:
Citigroup/Schroder Salomon Smith Barney
Best equity house:
Enskilda Securities
Best M&A house:
Enskilda Securities
| Eirik Winter | ||||||
Svenska Handelsbanken’s performance in its home country wins it the award for best bank in Sweden as well as in the region as a whole. It has continued to improve its position in the retail sector. Its introduction of its E-Bud platform, aimed at smoothing the way for homebuyers and vendors in Sweden through online property auctions, is just one example of the innovative spirit that not only characterises Handelsbanken’s operations but those of Nordic banking in general. Use of new technology to maximize income and improve cross-selling is of paramount importance in Handelsbanken’s strategy.
E-Bud has also helped consolidate Handelsbanken’s position in the crucial mortgage market. The internet also offers the bank the opportunity to further decentralize its operations, with local branches given the freedom to create their own websites. This strengthens the local branch ethos that has helped Handelsbanken improve its retail customer base.
Handelsbanken Markets is a leader in investment banking and the bank’s asset management division is also at the top in its field. The bank is a major supporter of business in Sweden, focusing largely on small and medium-size companies. The bank is strong on custody services, offering an excellent professional service to clients, supported by a fully automated SWIFT-based system. The system employs straight-through processing techniques to maximize efficiency. Handelsbanken provides outstanding support in trade finance.
Winner of the best debt house award, is Citigroup/Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. SSSB topped the league table for debt issuance in Sweden in the past 12 months, running 13 issues in all worth nearly e4 billion ($3.4 billion), a market share of 15% and some way above nearest challenger ABN AMRO. Although others ran more deals, most notably Merrill Lynch with 19 transaction, Eirik Winter, managing director and head of European corporate capital markets at Citigroup/Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, feels that the value and quality of the deals run by his firm marks it out in Sweden. “Our deals are of the highest quality,” he states. “We don’t just pursue mandates for league table credibility, but concentrate on the quality of the issuer and getting the right investors.”
In the past, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has acted on high-profile deals for the Kingdom of Sweden, as well as a number of ground-breaking corporate deals. Top deals of the past year have included issues for such companies as StoraEnso, Ericsson and Volvo. It has also just priced a e500 million issue for airline SAS.
The deal has a maturity of seven years and was increased from e300 million to e500 million because of strong demand. The firm also performs well in private placements and syndicated loans.
Best M&A house is Enskilda Securities. Enskilda is the clear leader in Sweden, in terms of deals done, having advised the bidder or target on deals involving Swedish companies on many more occasions than its closest rivals. Though such houses as Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch have achieved greater value, Enskilda remains the first-choice adviser in local deals.
Enskilda acted as joint adviser, along with JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, on Skandinavska Enskilda Banken’s bid for FöreningsSparbanken, the main deal in Sweden this year. In addition, Enskilda did not neglect the smaller sector of the market, dedicating its resources and expertise to deals such as kitchen fittings manufacturer Nobia’s merger with the UK’s Enodis, and Molnlycke Health Care’s bid for Mexican surgical products brand Barrier.
Enskilda Securities retained its position as best equity house. The high market share and first class research and analysis that secured it the regional award were also evident in Sweden.
Enskilda’s knowledge of local markets and the key sectors in Sweden make it an extremely popular choice among investors for research products, and it consistently achieves a 10% market share in trading on the Stockholm stock exchange, putting it alongside Carnegie, Svenska Handelsbanken and FöreningsSparbanken in the group of leading players. Enskilda’s key deal of 2000-01 was the issue of ordinary shares for Swedish telecommunications corporation Telia, on which it acted as joint bookrunner with its closest rival, Carnegie. The deal was priced on June 12 2000 and was a privatization deal in which the Kingdom of Sweden retained around 70% of the shares in the company. Enskilda also ran a share issue for Axis Communications.
