Awards for Excellence 2018
Not just revenues but also returns are behind the success this year of UBS, western Europe’s best investment bank. The Swiss firm stands out for a distribution and advisory-led business that has attracted fewer of the kind of questions over its sustainability that others have had to endure.More activity in the primary equity markets in western Europe, particularly in Switzerland, played to UBS’s strengths. Its equity capital markets revenues rose by 56% to SFr1 billion ($1.01 billion) in 2017 and were again up in the first quarter of 2018. It was global coordinator on the SFr2.4 billion IPO of electricity meter firm Landis+Gyr, a SFr2.3 billion rights issue for Lonza and on Galenica Santé’s SFr1.9 billion IPO. It was also global coordinator on Santander’s €7.1 billion rights issue.
Even if it is better known as an equities house, UBS’s expertise in financial institutions has been key in what is perhaps the most difficult and rapidly changing part of the market: bank capital trades. Examples include Bank of Ireland’s debut holding company bond in sterling and dollars, and Nationwide’s £500 million core capital deferred shares.