Awards for Excellence 2020
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First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the number one bank for loans in the Mena region, with a 15.5% market share, arranging some 160 transactions including $5 billion of syndicated loans from April 2019 to March 2020. But it has also won numerous debt capital markets mandates across the region.
“We can go toe to toe with anyone on Mena loans and bonds,” says Andy Cairns, head of global corporate finance. “We have been deliberate in investing across our structuring, syndicate, sales and trading functions to offer a joined-up regional proposition complementary to the international bulge bracket.
“Our DCM business remains a key strength,” he continues. “The first question an international investor will ask of a Mena new issue is how big is demand from the region? Delivering this regional demand is what FAB specializes in.”
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Andy Cairns |
A recent reorganization of the investment banking platform has seen the consolidation of bonds and loans into a single flow business unit. Recent deals of note include a $428 million term loan for Telecom Egypt and a $1.3 billion loan for Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company.
In DCM, FAB is both “an aggregator of regional liquidity and the only Mena bank to represent the region internationally,” says Cairns.
FAB executed 37 Middle East DCM transactions in 2019, an 85% increase year on year, while raising $7 billion for international issuers, a 56% increase. Transactions of note include a $1.5 billion tier-2 bond for Riyad Bank, a $600 million green sukuk for Majid Al Futtaim, a $650 million secured note for Africa Finance Corporation and a $500 million bond for JSW Steel.
FAB is a leader in sustainable finance, has a dedicated environmental, social and governance function and has aligned its strategy with the United Nations Global Compact’s 10 principles.
Over the last three years, FAB has looked to improve its equities and advisory business after cutting back its advisory team in 2018. In January 2019, it hired Tom Emmet to lead advisory and ECM, and made several hires in UAE and Saudi.
It is already starting to see the benefits from that, acting as a sell-side adviser to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and it was the only regional non-Saudi bank on the Saudi Aramco IPO.
“In ECM, we’re looking to replicate what we have successfully achieved across our debt businesses,” says Cairns.
He says that the bank is looking “to be value-additive as an aggregator of Mena liquidity. We have historically been very strong in UAE IPOs, we led our first KSA deal as a bookrunner for Saudi Aramco in December, and going forward we will be focusing more on follow-ons, rights issues and block trades. We have several equity mandates in the pipeline.”
In securities services, the bank is now active in 90 markets worldwide, up from 70 last year.
