Best bank
Bank Hapoalim Best debt house
Lehman Brothers
Best equities house
Lehman Brothers
Best M&A house
Lehman Brothers
In terms of size and in terms of the depth and breadth of their businesses there is little to separate Israel?s two leading banks, Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi. Bank Hapoalim has however managed to capitalize on improving Israeli economic conditions over the past year better than its arch-rival and so wins the award for best bank in Israel again this year.
Hapoalim has improved its net profit at a much faster rate than Leumi, although Leumi too has some impressive numbers. Hapoalim, however, is the more efficient and profitable bank by most of the usual measures.
Lehman Brothers scooped the awards for best debt, equity, and M&A house in Israel this year. The US investment bank?s long-standing relationships with some of Israel?s leading corporates really paid off this year, as these clients came to the market with the highest-profile deals in debt, equity and M&A, and Lehman Brothers topped the league tables in all three.
On the debt side, Lehman acted as bookrunner for three Israeli sovereign transactions, including two deals for $750 million and $1 billion, guaranteed by USAID, for which it was the sole bookrunner.
The other deal, a $750 million 10-year issue, which Lehman led along with Citigroup in June 2003, was the largest ever unsecured offering from the State of Israel. Additionally, Lehman was sole bookrunner on the first Israeli high-yield offering since 2000, a $190 million 16-year bond for Ormat Industries.
Although UBS executed a greater number of transactions and has a stronger trading and research franchise in Israeli stocks, Lehman wins the award for best equity house in Israel for its work on three of the largest deals to come from Israeli corporates over the past year.
The three deals, which together raised over $1.6 billion, included a $420 million zero-yield convertible for Comverse Technology that was executed overnight with the books twice oversubscribed. Lehman?s $1.095 billion dual-tranche convertible for Teva Pharmaceuticals included an innovative dividend protection feature that allows the issuer to raise its dividend in proportion to its stock price growth.
Lehman also advised on two of the most significant M&A deals of the year, including Teva?s $3.4 billion acquisition of rival Sicor, the largest deal involving an Israeli corporate over the past year.
