Deutsche Bank has long brandished its credentials as a firm that doesn’t shy away from tough, complex and structured deals that are tailor-made for clients. That reputation served it well in 2024 when difficult market conditions meant borrowers needed unique solutions.
The bank boasted a well-diversified group of clients last year, spanning south Asia, southeast Asia, north Asia, and Australia and Japan, putting $9.2 billion in commitments to some 96 deals. It also bolstered its presence in key markets like Japan.
“We are really beginning to assert ourselves in markets we were not traditionally strong in,” says Amit Khattar, head of Asia Pacific investment banking and co-head of Asia Pacific global financing and credit trading. “As a result, we have a strong four-pillared financing business that is contributing almost equally to revenues every year and a business that has grown in market share, in complexity and in diversity of clients we are dealing with.”
For instance, Deutsche arranged a multimillion net asset value (NAV) bilateral facility for an Asia-focused special situations fund, marking the region’s first NAV financing. This demonstrated Deutsche’s ability to offer innovative liquidity solutions to funds looking for capital.
In another case, Deutsche was an original underwriter and bookrunner on a $1.25 billion loan for logistics group J&T Express, showcasing its distribution skills by bringing in many lenders during syndication.
It was also a financial adviser and mandated lead arranger, bookrunner and underwriter to Blackstone on its A$24 billion acquisition of AirTrunk in Australia – a landmark transaction that involved multiple parties and jurisdictions, and showed Deutsche’s deep understanding of different markets.
Deutsche remained strong in bonds, particularly high yield … On equity capital markets, Deutsche has been gaining steam
On local currency, the German bank underwrote and distributed a $1.4 billion equivalent financing in Indian rupees for Mankind Pharma’s take-private deal – a deal that really put Deutsche on the local currency map in India – while also leading a handful of offshore renminbi transactions.
“Cross-border activity from China is muted, but our risk appetite for China has not diminished as our financing business was very resilient through the recent downturn,” says Khattar. “So as China continues to come back, we will be well positioned on both local currency and foreign currency deals.”
Beyond loans, Deutsche remained strong in bonds, particularly high yield. Its deal list included a debut $300 million bond for Mongolia’s Golomt Bank, a debut $350 million outing for Karoon Energy, a debut $350 million deal for Sorik Marapi Geothermal Power and a maiden $500 million trade for the Mongolia capital city of Ulaanbaatar – all led on a sole basis.
On equity capital markets, Deutsche has been gaining steam, having rebuilt its team after shuttering a large chunk of its equities business in Asia in 2019.
Last year, the bank worked on US IPOs of Asian companies, including Amer Sports, Webtoon, BingEx and Pony.ai, as well as numerous Hong Kong listings. It played to its strengths in both cases by helping bring in demand from European investors, in addition to that from Asian accounts.
“Despite the geopolitics and macro headwinds, we feel our business mix, geography and competency mix is the right one, so I feel really optimistic about our business,” says Khattar. “Our financing business is in the best place it has been in over the last decade, and that momentum will only continue.”
