For example, Barclays’ overall US investment grade (IG) corporate debt volume increased by 67% in the past 12 months, and it has increased US IG league table-eligible transactions by a startling 242% since Q1 2006. It is ranked first for Eurobond issues in Asia, first for bank capital issues in India and first for offshore, non-asset-backed securities IG issuance by Australian /New Zealand issuers.
Developing a US business is particularly challenging, says Geert Vinken, global head of syndicate at BarCap. Banks cannot even use Yankee deals as a bridgehead into the market because non-US clients want to see firms winning US clients before they award Yankee mandates. “One element of our strategy was to add capital markets business to the strong lending relationships we already had with utilities,” says Mr Vinken. “We also worked with frequent borrowers. A key landmark was the multi-billion dollar debt exchange into two new transactions that we managed for Ford. It was very important for all parties involved.”
In Asia, BarCap’s growth has been helped by the development of a corporate credit market in Europe. “A few years ago, Asian borrowers didn’t see Europe as a good investor base for them, but with the growth of the European credit market, Asian borrowers are increasingly keen to tap into it and that plays to our strengths.”
Execution will be the key word for the next few months, says Mr Vinken. “When it was a seller’s market, there was less opportunity to add value. Circumstances are now much more challenging. We have a significant pipeline of deals and the ability to execute over the past couple of months has been suboptimal. The key will therefore be identifying the windows of opportunity and delivering excellent execution for our clients.”
