Best Bank
Emirates Bank Group Best debt house
HSBC
Best equities house
Shuaa Capital
Through its Emirates Bank International and Emirates Financial Services divisions, the Emirates Bank Group has developed one of the most enviable corporate and investment banking businesses in the UAE.
Its financial performance may not be quite as impressive as that of last year?s winner, Mashreq Bank, but Emirates Bank Group has been the more active of the two in the high-profile deals of the last year. As well as working on a number of the big project finance deals, the bank secured a role in all but one of the five bond deals in the UAE over the past 12 months.
HSBC, however, wins the award for best debt house in the UAE, because of its leadership role in the most innovative and groundbreaking transactions. HSBC was sole bookrunner on Emirates Airlines? debut $500 million seven-year Eurobond in March 2004. The deal is the first-ever unsecured corporate bond issue from a Gulf Cooperation Council country, the largest-ever unrated bond issue by an airline, and the largest issue from any airline in nearly 15 years. The Emirates Airline deal also equalled the largest ever UAE bond deal, the January 2004 five-year issue for Emirates Bank International, which was also led by HSBC as well as Morgan Stanley. That deal is the largest ever by a Middle Eastern bank. In the loan market HSBC led or played an active role in five of the eight major deals.
Shuaa Capital wins the award for best equity house in the UAE this year. Shuaa Capital led the $112 million AMLAK Finance IPO in January 2004, the only major IPO since 2002, and is also a leading broker on the Dubai International Financial Centre with a secondary market share of about 20% and national and regional research coverage.
