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Best bank: Best investment bank: Wood & Co
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In a year when the virtues of retail and corporate banking have come to the fore, Ceska Sporitelna secures the best bank title again in the Czech Republic. With support from its parent, Erste Bank, it has transformed itself into a banking powerhouse. Through 640 branches Ceska Sporitelna serves more than 5.3 million customers. In the past year it put in another strong performance with net interest income growing from Kc18.37 billion in 2006 to reach Kc21.2 billion ($1.37 billion), while operating profit rose to Kc18.37 billion in 2007 from Kc15.15 billion in 2006. As a result the bank’s return on equity edged up from 23% to 23.8% and the cost-income ratio improved from 53% in 2006 to 50% in 2007.
Wood & Co ranks as one of the most impressive regional investment banks in central and eastern Europe, not least in its home market. In the past year it has executed several landmark equity and M&A mandates. On the equity capital markets side it has executed a 10% share buyback for energy company CEZ, managed a €172 million institutional private placement for Orco Property Group and was selling agent on the Kc3.2 billion sale of shares in textile company Pegas. In the secondary market, it was the leading broker on the Prague Stock Exchange in 2007, with a 27% market share. It also produces some of the best regarded equity research on the Czech Republic. In M&A notable transactions include its acting as sole adviser to private equity firm Warburg Pincus on the acquisition of stakes in Atlas and Centrum, respectively the second- and third-largest internet portals in the Czech Republic.
