FinanceAsia Achievement Awards 2023: The rationale behind ANZ's best houses

HOUSE AWARDS – ANZ

BEST EQUITY HOUSE

Barrenjoey Capital Partners

Still in its infancy, Barrenjoey Capital Partners was recently dubbed Australia’s “most talked about investment bank” by the respected Australian Financial Review. And there’s ample reason why. A bank, whose recent hiring spree and new business lines gives it the right to be considered a full-service provider, has been whipping up a storm in the Australian league tables.

By deal value, it led the benchmark ECM league table, surpassing UBS, Macquarie, Canaccord and JP Morgan to complete 32 deals worth A$3.77 billion ($2.54 billion) between October 2022 and September 2023, according to Dealogic.

Notable deals included its first capital raise for a New Zealand-listed infrastructure investor, Infratil, as joint lead manager and underwriter; lead financial adviser on two equity placements for Anreo; and APA’s A$1.7 billion ($1.12 billion) acquisition of Alinta Energy’s Pilbara, supporting both the M&A and equity raise.

Execution is key, and if Barrenjoey can maintain a high bar, it seems likely to continue this winning run well into 2024.

BEST DEBT FINANCE HOUSE and BEST INTERNATIONAL BOND HOUSE

Citi

When it comes to breadth of service, Citi stands out amongst peers. It is why the bank justifies holding the honour for Best Debt Finance House and Best International Bond House; the second year in a row Citi has won the latter.

With global fixed income market volatility, a banking crisis which led to the collapse of Credit Suisse, and a rather testing yield curve to contend with, Citi proved it was able to deliver for Australia and New Zealand’s most influential corporates internationally.

The bank raised $36.9 billion through public bond markets during the awards period, approximately 50% more than any other bond house. Noteworthy transactions included the landmark jumbo bridge-to-bond M&A financing for BHP (for the acquisition of Oz Minerals), the largest ever single currency international issuance from an Australia and New Zealand corporate. Citi was the sole global coordinator.

Citi was also joint lead on the impressive €1.35 billion ($1.48 billion) benchmark green bond for NBN, an Australian broadband provider, an excellent example of a green use-of-proceeds bond and an evolution of the issuer’s funding portfolio.

In the FIG space, Citi holds the unbroken run of having executed all 32 consecutive US dollar tier-2 and AT1 hybrid 144a and SEC public deals out of Australia and New Zealand since 2014. On the loans side, Citi continues to gain trust with borrowers on the big deals. The bank sole led packaging manufacturer Orora’s jumbo A$1.7 billion ($1.15 billion) syndicated loan facility which funded its acquisition of Saverglass, tapping 50 lenders globally; it also provided syndicated facility backing for Metals Acquisition Corp’s purchase of the CSA Copper Mine; and was the backstop facility for Brookfield’s bid for Origin Energy.

Citi has also boosted Australia’s ABS market, playing key roles in the country’s first SME-backed capital relief ABS and the first rated Solvency II Matching Adjustment RMBS, globally.

All in all, a good year for the US-headquartered bank.

BEST INVESTMENT BANK – AUSTRALIA

UBS

UBS had a very strong story to tell during the awards period. The Swiss bank topped the ECM charts by deal value, completing 24 deals worth A$4.8 billion ($3.2 billion), based on Dealogic data.

UBS was also the top trader in the secondary equity market trading across the Australian Securities Exhange (ASX) and Chi-X, executing on A$755 billion of trades. In M&A, it also came out on top, working on deals worth up to A$34.6 billion and gaining 70% market share. Notable work included UBS advising Allkem on its A$16 billion all-stock merger with Livent to create a leading global lithum chemicals producer.

Even in the DCM space, where banks like ANZ and Westpac dominate, UBS excelled coming second in Dealogic’ league tables, securing 41 deals and 33% market share (It came out on top when you look at just domestic debt issuers). UBS was on several ESG-labelled deals, including Western Australia Treasury Corporation’s A$1.9 billion inaugural green bond.

BEST INVESTMENT BANK – NEW ZEALAND

Forsyth Barr

The New Zealand full-service investment bank had a very buoyant 2023, highlighted by its lead role in the largest equity raise of the year, Infratil’s NZ$935 million ($585 million) placement and retail offer.

Forsyth Barr already boasts a wealth of active blue-chip clients, but also secured new business with the likes of Heineken, Eastland Network and Heartland Bank during the awards period.

In doing so, the bank was able to support four M&A deals, come second in the ECM table by volumes – being involved in approximately 50% of NZX’s capital activity activities – and secure top spot in DCM for 2023, having advised on more debt transactions – by deal value and volume – than any other New Zealand investment bank.

Forsyth Barr also made headlines after acting as financial adviser to Spark on its review of its passive mobile cell towers. On creation of the Spark TowerCo, Forsyth Barr then led the NZ$900 million sale process for 70% of the company.

BEST LOCAL BOND HOUSE

ANZ

Whether it’s based on volume or on stand out deal making, ANZ had a stellar 2023, justifying its place as Australia and New Zealand’s Best Local Bond House.

On volume, ANZ ranked in first place, racking up A$33.8 billion ($22.8 billion) in league table credits during the awards period. On market share, it managed to capture 17.7% in 2023 while also showing year-on-year growth of 1.5%. And on deal volumes it was involved in 164 transactions, of which 131 originated from Australia.

ANZ also ranked top of the Australian Sustainable Bond table, working on almost one fifth of the deals available in the market.

Notable deals include the A$400 million seven-year benchmark deal on behalf of gas infrastructure supplier AGIG. Despite the tricky timing of the deal, ANZ, as sole bookrunner, helped secure the tightest pricing of a regulated utility for that tenor.

In New Zealand, ANZ played a pivotal role in Powerco’s benchmark bond securing cornerstone interest from an offshore investor to gain extended duration and diversification for the issuer.

BEST SUSTAINABLE FINANCE HOUSE

Société Générale

The French commercial and investment bank has a very credible global reputation when it comes to sustainable finance, with serious and wide-ranging targets to reduce or phase out exposure to carbon emissions in multiple sectors.

It is why, despite its relatively light business footprint in Australia and New Zealand, Société Générale stands out, having been involved in the most notable green and sustainable deals.

The bank advised and arranged the first financing of a standalone grid-scale battery in Australia – Green Investment Group and Shell Energy Australia completed the A$288 million ($194 million) greenfield project financing of the Rangebank Battery Energy Storage System designed to boost Victoria renewable energy hosting capacity. It is the first financing of a standalone grid-scale battery in Australia and Shell’s first direct equity investment in this technology.

Another notable deal included New Zealand Green Investment Finance’s (NZGIF) first private debt placement with international co-investors. With the support of Société Générale, NZGIF is the first financial institution in the country to secure a Climate Bonds Initiative certification,  an invaluable proof of concept.

BEST ISSUER FOR CORPORATES

AusNet

This transaction showed it is possible to defy expectations and prove that good communication, smart pricing and good old-fashioned belief can win you a great deal.

AusNet – which runs electricity and gas networks worth multi-billions of dollars – offered such a story in 2023. Successfully raising A$700 million ($473 million) in the local currency medium-term note (MTN) market was not an easy feat considering the market backdrop. It was the first corporate deal of the year (May 2023) and tested investors’ mettle at the longer end of the curve factoring in the dramatic market volatility caused by the banking crisis and bank rate hike anxiety.

According to Westpac, which was involved in the deal, its success was down to AusNet’s “established reputation with key Aussie dollar buyers, an outright yield in excess of 6% and coming to market with the right starting price” to build book momentum.

This was the longest transaction, largest print size and the biggest movement in pricing from a corporate at that stage in the year and demonstrated appetite for longer end of the curve.

In total AusNet raised A$1.1 billion throughout 2023, also via a 10-year public debt deal and some remaining private placements.