Awards for Excellence 2018
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Citi may not have won best investment bank in Africa this year, but the financing capabilities it displayed over the last 12 months deserve recognition. The bank showed strength in loans, debt capital markets and equity capital markets.
Combining a local presence in 15 African countries with product platforms in another 25 countries, Citi offers its clients across the continent a one-stop shop for local and foreign currency services in both the debt and equity markets.
Under Miguel Azevedo, head of investment banking for Africa, excluding South Africa, Citi was the leading bank in African equity and equity-linked issuance, raising over $4 billion for its clients, and second in debt capital markets, with $4.6 billion, ahead of Standard Chartered’s $4.3 billion. In syndicated loans, Citi was also second, just behind Bank of America Merrill Lynch, with eight loans worth $4 billion.
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Miguel Azevedo |
Beyond the raw numbers, Citi worked on some of the most important equity deals of the year, including the largest non-privatization secondary follow-on in history for Naspers ($10 billion) and the largest-ever African IPO for Steinhoff’s African subsidiary ($1.2 billion). The deal closed in September 2017, just months before the parent company was engulfed by fraud allegations.
In M&A, Citi acted as sole financial adviser to Shell on the sale of its 100% stake in Shell Gabon to the Carlyle Group – a difficult sale because of the oil-price slump. Citi was also among the lead banks on the historic 30-year bond issued by Côte d’Ivoire, the continent’s first deal of that tenor.
