Awards for Excellence 2020
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The Covid-19 pandemic destroyed many of the assumptions underpinning M&A deals under preparation before the outbreak. Therefore it has been vital for advisory banks to shift focus to help clients understand and manage the situation. Much of that is about having built up a well-rounded franchise.
This is something that has come relatively naturally to Rothschild & Co, given its unrivalled scale in regional advisory – it acted on almost 200 Western European M&A deals that closed during this awards period, according to Dealogic.
Euromoney’s best bank for advisory in Western Europe has shown, including over the last year, that it is determined not just to hold onto what it has built but also to move existing businesses forward and invest in new ones – whether it is debt and equity advisory or, more recently, shareholder engagement.
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Philippe Le |
“This remains an entrepreneurial firm, and even where we are strong, we see new opportunities,” says Philippe Le Bourgeois, chief operations officer at Rothschild & Co.
One example is the UK, where last year it acquired Livingstone Partners, now rebranded Arrowpoint Advisory. This serves to extend Rothschild & Co’s franchise in the lower mid-cap space in Britain.
It follows a similar acquisition a decade earlier in France, Transaction R, which has helped keep it similarly relevant with fast-growing companies in its other home market.
Hiring Eric Lalo in September from Lazard to be its head of sovereign advisory and more generally investing in its sovereign advisory franchise have further stood it in good stead at a time when governments have been forced to bail out big corporations. Note Rothschild & Co’s role in the German government’s recapitalization of Lufthansa this year, for example.
In the future, these firms will need selling back to the private sector. Rothschild & Co’s role advising the French government on its biggest privatization for almost 15 years, Française des Jeux, shows it has recent experience in this field too.
In M&A, Rothschild & Co advised EQT in one of the standout deals in the period. The Swedish private equity company led a $10 billion buyout of Nestlé’s skincare business alongside the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Canadian pension manager PSP Investments. Rothschild & Co’s previous work with the seller helped its side win the auction.
