Published: November 23, 2011
ECM transactions jump 10% as lenders increase capital.
Equity fundraisings by European banks have increased by 10% year-on-year as lenders seek to strengthen their capital bases following July’s stress tests.
More than US$36.4bn has been raised through 29 deals in the year to date, compared to US$33.1bn from 27 transactions during the same period in 2010, according data released by Dealogic.
However, 78% of this total was raised in the first half of 2011 with just eight transactions completed since the end of June worth US$8.2bn.
German banks have secured US$12.8bn through four deals so far this year, with Commerzbank’s US$7.8bn rights issue Europe’s largest. Italian and Spanish banks are close behind raising US$11.2bn and US$6.2bn respectively.
The leading bookrunner so far this year is also German. Deutsche Bank has worked on US$4.9bn worth of transactions, representing 13.5% of the market. In second place is Goldman Sachs with US$3.6bn and a 9.9% market share.
Other deals in which banks have looked to boost their core capital include Spain’s Santander’s plan to sell a 7.8% stake in its Chilean business and BBVA seeking to exchange €3.5bn of preference shares for mandatorily convertible bonds.