Global: Deals of the year 2001: The landmark deals of 2001Regional: Western Europe Central & eastern Europe North America Latin America Asia
Western Europe
Best equity issue
Winner: easyJet
Deal: placing and open offer via accelerated book build
Amount: £146 million
Date: November 7 2001
Bookrunners: Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS Warburg
Last year accelerated bookbuilding really caught on in Europe as turbulent markets ensured that conditions were too risky for most issuers to contemplate a lengthy roadshow process. A few braved the storm nonetheless - one or two with notable success.
Inditex, the Spanish company that is more widely known for its Zara clothing brand is a good example. Its e2.4 billion ($2.1 billion) IPO in May was a runaway success, with its shares snapped up almost as rapidly as its mass-retail copies of catwalk designs. Following a three week-long marketing process, bookrunners SSSB and Morgan Stanley reported that demand from institutional investors outstripped supply by over 50 times, although this spectacular result was helped by the fact that almost 45% of the deal was allocated to retail investors. Though critics claim that the shares were priced to go, it's difficult to deny the leads' achievement in running one of the rare IPOs to trade up - by 28% at the year-end.