BEST BANK
Komercni Bank
BEST DEBT HOUSE
Citigroup
BEST EQUITY HOUSE
Merrill Lynch
BEST M&A HOUSE
Morgan Stanley
The big three Czech banks – CSOB, Ceska Sporitelna and Komercni Bank – all performed well last year, with an average return on equity of about 20%. Consumer loans and mortgages were the most profitable part of the market. Ceska Sporitelna was best placed to profit from this sector, thanks to its large network of retail customers.
However, Komercni brought in the highest annual returns in the sector, with $424 million in net profit, in part thanks to a highly successful advertising campaign.
Citigroup wins the best debt house award thanks to its dominant position in the loan market, in which it had a 60% market share by number of deals, and a 37% market share by volume.
Key deals included the Kc3.6 billion ($146 million) credit facility for rubber company GS Group and the Kc1.75 billion facility for the country’s third-largest water company. Citigroup also arranged a Eurobond for Home Credit & Finance, a Czech consumer finance company that is expanding strongly into Russia.
Merrill Lynch wins the best equity house award for having arranged the Czech Republic’s first IPO, the $75 million flotation of generic drugs manufacturer Zentiva. Merrill listed the company on the Prague Stock Exchange with the help of local broker Wood & Co, also listing global deposit receipts on the London Stock Exchange. The offer was five times oversubscribed, and Zentiva’s shares rose from a launch price of Kc485 in June 2004 to Kc870 in March.
Morgan Stanley wins the best M&A house award, having advised Central European Media Enterprises on its $600 million acquisition of the TV Nova network, as well as RPG Industries in its $410 million acquisition of several Czech coal mines.
