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QATAR |
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Best Investment Bank: Barclays |
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Eyebrows might be raised among competitors, given Qatar’s investment in the UK lender, but Barclays deserves the investment bank award. It ran a close second in the M&A rankings across the awards period and completed 10 debt capital markets deals worth $1.73 billion, according to Dealogic.
Several of its transactions were state related, including a $10 billion triple-tranche issue for the State of Qatar, which priced in April 2020, marking the first bond by a regional sovereign since the start of the pandemic. But Barclays, under chief executive Jes Staley, was also present in deals across the corporate space.
It helped Commercial Bank of Qatar and Doha Bank to raise $500 million worth of five-year senior unsecured notes, working as a joint lead manager on both transactions, and advised telecoms operator Ooredoo on a $1 billion sale of 10-year bonds. In May 2020 Barclays was joint bookrunner on a $1 billion, five-year RegS print by Qatar National Bank, with 98% of orders placed by investors based outside the Gulf.
