Best bank – Saudi British Bank
Best equity house – Saudi British bank
Best local partner – Riyad Bank
Best debt house – JPMorgan
After many years Saudi British Bank has finally beaten Saudi American Bank (Samba) for the best bank in Saudi Arabia award. SBB worked on several high-profile deals this year, including as co-bookrunner with GIB on the $4 billion Saudi Telecom IPO, the first IPO in Saudi Arabia for nearly 25 years. This and the fact that it is the top broker on the Saudi Stock Exchange also landed it the best equities house award.
SBB is also the joint-fifth arranger and underwriter for the large syndicated loans this year. It managed to increase its profits again, while Samba’s profits fell by nearly SR400 million ($106 million) in 2002. Samba missed out on major roles in the biggest loan deals over the past year, in particular Saudi Arabian Oil Co’s (Saudi Aramco) $2 billion revolving credit facility.
Riyad Bank was the only Saudi mandated arranger for this deal. That makes Riyad the largest Saudi arranger by far, and the choice for best local partner. Riyad has also worked hard to reorganize its management structure, and to train its staff, and has introduced a new enterprise wide risk management system.
Best debt house winner JPMorgan was involved in the two biggest deals of the year. The $2 billion Saudi Aramco and the $2.4 billion Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) revolving credit facilities are not only the largest in Saudi Arabia but in the region as well. As the only other arranger with Riyad on the Saudi Aramco deal and the financial adviser to Sabic, JPMorgan arranged and underwrote far more than any other bank in Saudi Arabia this year.
