Best bank – Bank of Ireland
Best debt house – Barclays Capital
Best equity house – Davy Stockbrokers
Best M&A house – IBI Corporate Finance/Bank of Ireland
Best local partner – Goodbody
When Bank of Ireland’s bid for UK mortgage bank Abbey National fell flat, investors in the Irish institution breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t at all clear why Bank of Ireland would want to expand into the relatively slow-growth UK market when its Irish business is performing so strongly, with a 22.4% return on equity for 2002.
Corporate banking and treasury now comprise 31% of Bank of Ireland’s business. Key deals in the past year include a $450 million loan for first-time borrower Galen Chemicals to finance the acquisition of a portfolio of drugs from Pfizer and a e500 million facility for Bord Gáis Eíreann, which was oversubscribed.
Given Barclays Capital’s prominence in the UK bond and loan markets, it is perhaps not surprising that it is also the leading debt bank in neighbouring Ireland. There have been few corporate deals in Ireland this year. But in the bank market, Barclays leads the way with transactions for a variety of issuers. For Bank of Ireland, it completed a £350 million ($560 million) perpetual tier 1 capital deal, the largest such deal by an Irish bank. In April this year, it co-led Emerald Mortgages No 3, the first Irish mortgage-backed deal since October 2001 and the largest to date at e750 million. It is the biggest lender and in the past 12 months has provided e630 million to the Musgrave Group to acquire Budgens in the UK. Barclays also sole led and was bookrunner on a e220 million project finance loan for Huntstown Power Company, the first privately financed power plant in Ireland since the market was liberalized.
Davy Stockbrokers wins the accolade of top equities house in Ireland this year having played a leading role in all three major capital markets deals done. In May last year, it raised e77 million for IAWS Group, a bakery products firm, in an accelerated bookbuild. Then, in June, it sold 14 million shares for e93.8 million on behalf of the Ryan family and Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. In January, it was co-manager on a issue of $86.3 million-worth of ADRs for Icon, a healthcare company.
Bank of Ireland, via its corporate finance subsidiary IBI Corporate Finance, has worked on the largest number of M&A deals in the last year. These have been largely management buyouts – a popular transaction in Ireland. The largest was the buyout of Dunloe Ewart by financing vehicle Valdot. It also worked with the management of BWG on an offer for the company’s shares.
Local house Goodbody has been busy working on a number of management buyouts this year for Conduit, where it advised Kandel, and for the buyout of the Riverdeep Group by Hertal Acquisitions. It also advised the Grafton Group on buying Jackson Building Centres and is an active trader of Irish companies’ shares according to Autex.
