Best bank:
Parex Bank
Best debt house:
Parex Bank
Best equity house:
Parex Bank
Best M&A house:
Parex Bank
In Latvia Parex Bank sweeps the board. It is the largest bank in Latvia and has increasingly improved its position in the Baltic market as a whole, offering services across the spectrum of banking: retail, corporate, investment management, trade finance, custody and payment services. Parex has very successfully ridden on the back of the emerging industries and companies in Latvia and the Baltics, providing the growing numbers of these firms and wealthier individuals with banking services.
As business has grown, so has Parex, with the bank broadening its range of products and taking advantage of new opportunities for cross-selling. The bank achieved a record profit in 2000, and its cumulative profit since 1993 is double that of the total profits of its main competitors in Latvia.
In the near future, Parex hopes to expand its position in the Baltic region, with the goal of becoming the region’s top financial player in all spheres of banking. In retail, it is looking to expand its operations in Lithuania, as well as build up its activities in Estonia.
Retail banking currently comprises about a third of Parex’s business. It boasts an ATM network of more than 100 outlets and its 93-branch network is the most extensive in Latvia. This number is half as much again as its nearest rival, Unibank, and almost twice as many as Hansabank.
Parex has shown a good record of innovation in its retail business; a significant factor in achieving its dominant position, with impressive increases in the number of retail accounts held at the bank – up 48% in 2000 following a 51% increase in 1999. An example of the bank’s marketing success was the Pela Depozits campaign, which achieved around 5,000 new accounts for the bank. Its policy of offering competitive interest rates and products has also resulted in Parex achieving a leading position in loans to individuals, predominantly in mortgage lending, with the bank holding 24% of the total market in 2000.
In the debt market, Parex again leads the way. The bank holds a 26% share of the fixed-income market on the Riga stock exchange, with its closest rival managing only 15%. The recent hiring of a new head of origination and sales, Dainis Barups from Lehman Brothers, has increased the momentum in debt.
In new issues, highlights for the past year include a role as lead manager of a Latvian issue for Nordic Investment Bank, worth Lats10 million ($16 million) and a placement of Lats6.4 million ($10.1 million) for Svensk Exportkredit. Parex boasts a strong reputation as a market-maker in Baltic Eurobond issues and is seen by many as the leading house, not only in Latvia, but in the Baltics as a whole.
The Latvian equity markets are also led by Parex. It accounts for almost a third of the turnover on the Riga stock market and its research and analysis is second to none, in volume and quality. It is difficult to find anyone with a criticism of Parex’s research.
Parex completes its scoop of all four awards for Latvia by picking up the prize for best M&A adviser, narrowly beating off stiff competition from Suprema.
Parex has played a key role in the major deals of the year. In October 2000, the biggest M&A deal in the history of the Baltic region was executed when BaltCom GSM, one of the largest mobile phone operators in Latvia, was sold to European telecom company Tele2. Parex acted as adviser to BaltCom’s largest shareholder, Alina.
As well as this, Parex advised on the privatization of the Baltic region’s largest oil and oil product shipment company, Ventspils Nafta, and the firm advised Russia’s Gazprom in its acquisition of a minority stake in Latvijas Gaze.
