Capital Market…
最近資本市場有些有趣的事情,紀錄一下.
1.
League Table是啥?簡言之,就是investment bank的排名,主要分ECM (Equity Capital Market), DCM (Debt Capital Market), M&A (Merger and Acquisition)跟其他像是structured finance等產品的排名.
最近看FinanceAsia,發現一則好玩的新聞,背景主要就是菲利浦要釋出台積電股票一事,結果想當然爾是Goldman來做這個deal啦(Goldman跟TSMC是長期友好的夥伴,拜宋學仁之賜,從台積電到NASDAQ釋股開始,只要是TSMC的deal, Goldman應該是無役不與.),但是遭到同行抗議這個deal不能算到所謂”league table”裡,其實抗議常常發生,只是因為這個deal size太大,影響排名甚鉅,所以格外引人注目,連Dealogic(專門update investment banking排名的)都為此上週暫時不更新排名…investment banks爭這個真的是爭的相當認真.
有人當然覺得神經病,爭這種排名爭這麼認真幹嘛,有賺到錢就好,可是其實這排名對investment bank來說,是非常非常重要的. Banker在跟客戶做簡報找生意時,都要show一下我們這家銀行過去以及到目前為止在各項產品的表現,如果排名太差,確實會做不到生意!!!每家銀行都有自己的niche,擅長的產品也不一樣,所以在其擅長的領域就特別希望排名很前面,能夠維繫這塊產品的生意,以免擅長的產品生意沒了,到時候表現可就難看了.. 順道附個新聞,FinanceAsia會把歷史新聞鎖住,只好趁它還夠新鮮先剪下來,大家分享一下…------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rival banks challenge Goldman's TSMC transactionBy
Anette Jönsson 19 March 2007
Complaints concern whether the $1.75 billion deal is eligible for league table credit. If included, the sell-down by Philips will push Goldman to number one. Frequent readers of this website may notice that the league tables provided by Dealogic on a weekly basis weren't updated on Friday as usual and no league table roundup is included in this morning’s newsletter. The reason, according to Dealogic, is that a number of investment banks have challenged the inclusion of Royal Philips Electronics’ $1.75 billion sell-down in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) last Monday. While such challenges are by no means unusual, the sheer size of this trade and the fact that it will in one go propel Goldman Sachs (as the sole bookrunner of the transaction) from seventh to first in the Asia ex-Japan ECM ranking has prompted Dealogic to hold off on updating the numbers until this issue has been settled.The root of the complaint appears to be a suggestion that the transaction lacked an underwriting agreement and that it was carried out by Goldman’s trading desk, rather than the ECM desk. This is sometimes done on block trades, especially when the seller is a client of the investment bank's trading desk, and Dealogic as a rule doesn’t include these transactions in its rankings. Typically though, such an approach is used for smaller transactions of below $100 million. And several bankers noted on Friday that it would be “almost impossible” to do a deal the size of the TSMC transaction from the trading desk. This is also what Goldman says and, according to sources, the bank plans to show the underwriting agreement it signed with Philips to Dealogic as proof that the deal does indeed qualify for league table credits. A similar “defence” was used by UBS on the one hand and Citigroup on the other with regard to two separate sell-downs in Shinhan Financial by Korea Deposit Insurance (KDIC) in April last year and in February this year. Both deals were challenged by rival investment banks on the basis that the great majority of each deal went directly to strategic investors and that this portion therefore shouldn’t be counted as part of the underwritten transaction.However, after showing their respective underwriting agreements to Dealogic, the compiler of capital markets data accepted both transactions in full.The challenge to the TSMC deal, which sources say was made by several banks together in order not to single out any one complainant, highlights how competitive the banks really are with regard to the league tables. Even this early in the year they are seemingly prepared to take every chance they can to prevent other banks from getting ahead. The situation may have been aggravated by the fact that it involves Goldman Sachs, whose solid track-record of being in the top three makes it a favourite bank to beat.As of March 9, UBS topped the Asia ex-Japan ECM table, having arranged $2 billion worth of deals. It was followed by JPMorgan and Citigroup. Goldman was seventh with $1 billion of league table credits.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
The Blackstone Group(黑石集團) 要IPO了.這個算是全球數一數二的private equity (私募基金)計畫要公開上市了.以前很難想像,私募基金大部分都是保持非常神秘的運作方式,只有deal做成才會上報然後大家一陣驚嘆財務操作的手法跟deal size後,private equity又潛下水去繼續銷聲匿跡的找下個deal去了,現在居然要公開上市,意味著以後可能公開在陽光下給投資人檢視財務,operation等,不曉得會否增加做deal的困難度…乍看之下想說Blackstone幹嘛找自己麻煩.可是據報導,可能是因為兩個founders年事已高,想藉由IPO出脫持股,讓他們長年經營的事業有更高的報酬(是要多高?據稱某位founder已經有百億美金的身價…),但是主要還是黑石意識到便宜資金的時代已經結束了,現在各國都慢慢往升息的道路前進,要借到便宜的錢已經不是那麼容易的.而IPO透過發股的方式募集資金,雖然一般皆認為發股比舉債成本高,但是發股募到的錢,理論上等於永遠不用退還給投資大眾,所以這也是可以想到Blackstone想要IPO的主因之一. Anyway,等著看後續發展,有機會我也想買一股參一腳..哈
3. ABN AMRO可能要被Barclays購併了.上週經濟學人雜誌(Economist)才在討論ABN的CEO要怎樣處理這家公司(當時一些hedge funds寫信建議ABN賣掉自己一部份或全部算了),這週就有消息ABN可能會被Barclays併購,也好,ABN近年在全球的presence越來越小,Barclays反而很積極在發展(BGI group, Barclays Global Investors,特別有名),兩個湊一湊強化banking業務,看有沒有機會像Lehman Brothers一樣在眾人一遍不看好聲中發展出自己的一片天(Lehman Brothers本週剛被BusinessWeek選為Top50 Best Performers,是跟Goldman Sachs唯二兩家進榜的銀行), 這對banking industry也是件好事,多點players才有趣.
