Best bank – NISP
Best equity house – Bahana Securities
Best debt house – Triple A Securities
Best M&A house – Goldman Sachs
The recapitalization bonds pumped into many of Indonesia’s banks to keep them alive after the 1998 financial crisis still weigh on their balance sheets. Although there is a move toward higher interest earning loans the banks still have to dispose of over Rp358 trillion ($42 billion). Last year’s winner of the best bank award, BCA, is still one the better performers and has a strong reputation for its transaction business. And at times of poor credit quality and lack of lending opportunities it is definitely the business to be in. But the outlook for Indonesia is improving and banks with the ability to lend prudently to create new markets and help corporates gain access to capital are needed. The award for best bank in Indonesia therefore goes to Bank NISP.
Although NISP is small, analysts draw attention to its solid management. Its focus is lending to small and medium-size businesses and retail customers, and at 75% it has one of Indonesia’s highest loan-to-deposit ratios. Over the past year it increased its assets by 51%, while NPLs fell from 4.09% to 1.67% with all bad loans provisioned for. Net income rose 29%.
Bahana Securities is one of the largest investment banks in Indonesia and takes the best equity house award. With its weight and government patron (the finance ministry owns it) it is able to muscle in on important deals. In July, working alongside UBS, Bahana was joint global coordinator and joint book runner for PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia’s $125 million accelerated placement. In the same month it took PT Apexindo Pratama Duta public, raising Rp110 billion. In December the investment bank was able to overcome the nerves of international investors following October’s bomb blast in Bali to close a deal that involved the divestment by the government of a 42% stake in PT Wisma Nusantara International to Guthrie GTS Limited Singapore. And the deals kept flowing right up to the end of May this year with the IPO of PT Bank Rakyat.
Andalan Artha Advisindo Securities, better known as Triple A Securities, has risen from nowhere to challenge competitors such as government owned Danareksa. Unlike competitors, it focuses primarily on the bond markets and takes the best debt house award. It was involved in 14 deals in the year, far more than any other house. A January deal for Bank NISP comprised a Rp455 million tranche and a $5 million dollar tranche, both parts aimed at domestic investors. Triple A also brought Indonesia’s first shariah-compliant bond to market, for Indosat, at 30 years the country’s longest-dated paper ever.
The range and size of deals Goldman Sachs was involved in mean that it gets the best M&A house award. In Indonesia it was top deal adviser in terms of numbers and volume, its five deals being worth about $1.3 billion. In one deal it advised Singapore Technologies Telemedia on its $635 million acquisition of Indosat.
