The volatile conditions during much of the awards period meant that banks supporting borrowers in North America needed to be flexible.
“Certain sectors of the market – such as tech – are very young sectors and have only seen one cycle,” says Elif Bilgi Zapparoli. “A lot of this is new so it is very important to understand the strategies and the endgame.”
Zapparoli served co-head of global capital markets at Bank of America before taking on the role of head of international client strategy in June.
Banks also needed to be able to finance in size. For combining these in a deal roster packed with innovative and skilfully structured transactions, BofA is North America’s best bank for financing this year.
The bank ranks second for debt capital markets transactions for North American borrowers, with and without its own deals, and it tops the rankings for syndicated loans. In equity capital markets, IPOs practically disappeared in the period under review, but in equity-linked things have not been quite so bad. BofA – which has always had a strong equity-linked pedigree from the pre-crisis Merrill Lynch days – is getting on the deals that do happen, rising to the top of this year’s rankings. Overall, the bank ranked third for all ECM.
BofA has long argued that a particular strength of its franchise is its multi-product ability. And nowhere was this more in evidence than the work the bank did to prepare the way for the $30.4 billion spin-off of GE HealthCare from General Electric in November 2022.
The process kicked off with $5.5 billion in loans, comprising a $1 billion 364-day revolver, a $2.5 billion five-year revolver and a $2 billion three-year term loan A. BofA was a joint lead arranger on the deals, which effectively set up the finance that GE HealthCare would need to go it alone.
Next up was an $8.25 billion debut bond for GE HealthCare, with six tranches spanning two to 30 years. BofA was global coordinator and joint active bookrunner on the deal, in which it helped the company access 230 investors in the US and Europe.
At the same time, BofA was also working with parent General Electric as global coordinator on a $7 billion waterfall tender for that company’s own bonds, targeting 38 series in three currencies. A simultaneous $4 billion exchange offer was also used to fund part of the tender.
The bank also burnished its sustainable financing credentials during the awards review. It was joint active bookrunner, billing and delivery agent and sole green structuring agent on the $1 billion debut investment-grade green bond from Comcast, which was the first corporate green bond to come from a US borrower in 2023.
On a similar theme but with an even more novel twist, the bank was the sole sustainable structuring agent on a sustainable commercial paper programme for Duke Energy, breaking ground for being the first corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) use-of-proceeds US commercial paper programme.
Certain sectors of the market – such as tech – are very young sectors … A lot of this is new so it is very important to understand the strategies and the endgame
Elif Bilgi Zapparoli
The structure was put together by the bank’s short-term fixed income and ESG capital markets desks.
The bank is the perennial top-ranked player for syndicated loans for North American borrowers, with a market share of more than 11% in what is a fragmented market. Among the highlights in the period under review was the biggest senior unsecured term loan for an acquisition financing, a $15.7 billion 364-day facility for Oracle, to finance its acquisition of Cerner. The deal was the biggest funded term loan of 2022 in the US; BofA was lead left arranger, left bookrunner and administrative agent.
It followed that up with a $6 billion five-year revolver for the same client, the borrower’s first since 2018.
In an otherwise quiet year for equity capital markets, the bank’s most notable transactions were in equity linked. One such deal was a $720 million convertible bond and capped call for biotech Halozyme Therapeutics, where BofA was lead left bookrunner and counterparty on the capped call, a derivative overlay that effectively increases the conversion premium of a deal.
Adding to the issue’s complexity was the fact that it was intended to solve various requirements simultaneously. It was funding the repayment of a term loan, as well as a buyback of outstanding convertible bonds and shares. The whole process was wrapped up in nine hours in August 2022 in a volatile market.
