Best bank – Parex Bank
Best debt house – HSH Nordbank
Best equity house – Suprema Securities
Best M&A house – Trigon Capital
Best local partner – Hansabanka
There are three dominant players in the Latvian market: Parex Bank, Latvijas Unibanka and Hansabanka. Together they account for 54% of total banking assets, have a 64% share in the loan market and a 55% share in deposits.
Parex Bank wins the award for best bank in Latvia again this year. It has been aggressive in servicing its customers and growing its assets, 21% of the total, and is strongest bank overall. The bank with the second-largest market share is Latvijas Unibanka, with a 16% share of banking assets.
Parex Bank has also been the most aggressive at growing its share of deposits. It retains the highest market share in deposits at 25%, up from 22%, according to Suprema Securities. This compares with Hansabanka’s 16%, which has dropped from 18% and Unibanka’s 12% which has also decreased – from 13%.
While Unibanka has the largest share of loans at around 25% it has been losing market share during the past year. Hansabanka has experienced the biggest growth in market share to reach around 21%, and although Parex has the lowest share out of the three banks it has also enjoyed pretty good growth.
No international bonds were issued in Latvia during the past year and few loans were arranged for Latvian corporates. Parex acted as mandated arranger on the largest ever loan in Lats for Latvian energy utility Latvenergo. It was a two-tranche deal for Lats15 million ($27 million) in late 2002 and Lats21 million in April this year.
However, HSH Nordbank (previously LB Kiel) wins this year’s award for best debt house in Latvia for its work in project finance. One leading local firm comments: “HSH Nordbank are the best people throughout the Baltic to work with if you need project finance, basic debt, etc.” For example, the firm acted as lead arranger of a three-year e35 million to e50 million syndicated loan for Hansabanka in June this year.
There was only one initial public offering in Latvia – indeed in all the Baltic states – during the past year and Suprema Securities and Williams de Broë acted as joint lead managers. The IPO represented an offering of 51% of shares in the Latvian Shipping Company (Lasco) at e60.25 million in June last year. The listing was also the largest equity offering in the country to date. Suprema Securities, which wins the best equity house award, differentiates itself from Williams de Broë in that it initiated the transaction and came up with the dual-track structure for the deal that resulted in the allocation of the entire 51% to a trade buyer.
The M&A market in Latvia has been quiet but Trigon Capital wins this year’s best M&A house award for its role in advising on the sale of a 49% stake in a Latvian retail electronics company Trodeks to the Baltic Investment Fund for an undisclosed amount in May this year. Trigon is also currently advising the Latvian government on the privatization of Latvian telecom Lattelekom.
Hansabanka wins the award for best local partner for its active involvement on the local stock exchange with top market share and because it has made great strides in the Latvian banking market.
