Best bank – Fortis
Best debt house – Deutsche Bank
Best equities house – UBS
Best M&A house – ABN Amro
Best local partner – Dexia Securities
Fortis dominates the Belgian banking market through Generale Bank, which it bought in 1998. It specializes in acquisition, project and structured finance, as well as syndicated lending. It also provides Belgian companies with a full range of treasury and cash management services. Over the past 12 months it has participated in loans for major Belgian corporates such as Interbrew and the Etex Group to finance its demerger. It was also bookrunner on a NKr500 million ($70 million) bond deal for KBC International Financieringsmaatschappij, a e5 billion bond for the Kingdom of Belgium and e100 million for Delhaize, which doesn’t have a rating.
Although Morgan Stanley tops the league tables for Belgian debt issuance, its business over the past 12 months consisted almost entirely of issues for financial institutions. Deutsche Bank, on the other hand, has demonstrated strength across the full range of product and borrower categories. Deutsche led a number of key loans for corporates, including a $3.2 billion and then a $3.45 billion syndicated deal for Euroclear Bank in August and February. In the public arena, it regularly participates in deals for the Kingdom of Belgium and in April brought new borrower Société Wallonne du Logement to the international markets with a e100 million 15-year tranche and a e111 million 30-year tranche. On the structured side of the business, Deutsche designed and implemented a structure to enable Solvay to monetize a put option embedded in the documentation of its joint venture with BP.
Best equities house in Belgium for this year is UBS, which is a primary dealer in Belgian shares according to Autex figures. It also pulled off by far the most exciting deal in Belgium recently when it sold a 9.3% stake in Fortis on behalf of Suez. This was done via a combined equity and mandatory-convertible bought deal raising a total of e2.1 billion.
ABN Amro’s team of six Brussels-based corporate financiers has had a busy year. In November, ABN worked on the biggest leveraged buyout in Belgium when the management team of Ontex bid for their company with the help of Candover. The e1 billion deal marked the first time that a dual-price public offer had been launched in Europe. This was because Candover came to an agreement with the Van Malderen family, which owned just under 78% of the company, and a mandatory takeover bid was launched for the remaining 22%. ABN also worked with Vendex on its e505 million acquisition of the DIY business of GIB and the simultaneous sale of its Spanish, Portuguese and French activities to Leroy Merlin. In the financial services arena, it advised KBC Bancassurance on its winning bid in an auction organized by the Slovenian government for a 34% stake in Nova Ljubljanska Banka.
Among the local banks, Dexia Securities stands out. It played a role along with ABN Amro in the management buyout of Ontex, advising non-family Ontex shareholders on the bid from Candover. It also worked as adviser to Ackermans & Van Haaren on its takeover of GIB Group.
