BNP Paribas is western Europe’s best bank for financing. It ranks first in the Dealogic bookrunner rankings in debt capital markets, ahead of Deutsche Bank in second place, JPMorgan in third, Barclays in fourth and HSBC fifth.
It also heads the rankings for environmental, social and governance-focused DCM. It tops the loan arranger rankings, ahead of its domestic rival Crédit Agricole and Deutsche. And it is also a leader in leveraged finance.
The big US banks occupy the top five spots in the ECM rankings for western Europe, with BNP Paribas, the highest ranking European, coming in at sixth. It is the clear leader across all types of financing in the region and has a team of more than 650 originating, structuring and executing transactions for corporate and private-equity sponsor clients, led by Renaud-Franck Falce, head of capital markets Europe, Middle East and Africa.
As well as leading on all the standard types of bond deals, BNPP scored notable successes with debut issuers, in real estate and with more complex hybrid transactions.
Standout deals include: acting as joint structuring adviser and joint global coordinator on a two-tranche perpetual offering from Eni, part of the Italian energy company’s €5 billion hybrid funding plan; acting as joint structuring adviser and joint active bookrunner on a €500 million euro debut for London-listed property company Tritax EuroBox; and acting as joint global coordinator, ratings adviser, M&A adviser and lead left on the term loan B of the €3.6 billion financing package for MasMovil’s takeover of Spanish telecom rival Euskaltel.
BNPP is particularly strong in green bonds and sustainability-linked financing. It advised on the frameworks for Enel’s three-trance €3.25 billion sustainability-linked bond; Teva Pharmacutical’s €2.6 billion deal, which included both environmental and social key performance indicators linked to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring access to medicines; and on Eni’s €1 billon deal, the first sustainability-linked bond from the oil and gas sector.
In ECM, it worked on 26 IPOs, on 11 of which it was joint global coordinator (JGC), 30 accelerated bookbuilds, 16 as JGC, and 11 rights issues, seven as JGC.
BNPP’s joint global coordinator roles included a couple of deal-of-the-year candidates: the €7 billion Cellnex rights issue in Spain, the largest corporate acquisition fundraising of the last 20 years; and the €2.2 billion Allfunds IPO in Amsterdam.
