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New economy equity advisers of 2020: And the winners are …
A virtual ceremony for The Asset Triple A Sustainable Capital Markets Regional Awards 2020 will be held on the 18th of March 2021. We want to hear from you
The Asset 26 Feb 2021

Hindsight is always 20/20. Boy, isn’t this the case with 2020? Interestingly, it was also a year when those who acted with foresight were the ones who reaped the rewards. Such was the case of a slew of new economy companies, which raised equity capital to power their next phase of growth.

Arrangers of these high-profile equity offerings include BofA Securities, which played a key role in the US$1.7 billion initial public offering (IPO) of Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng in New York last year.  

Citi was another active arranger during The Asset’s review period, taking full advantage of the positive sentiment around technology and how companies were looking to increase their data-centre capabilities or shift resources to cloud-based technologies. The bank took part in a landmark deal in Hong Kong that took Ming Yuan Cloud public and raised around US$916 million from its IPO.

Zurich-headquartered Credit Suisse, the defending champion and Triple A Best Equity Adviser for 2019, stayed the course and captured the emerging trend of Chinese companies doing their secondary listing in Hong Kong such as for NetEase’s US$3.1 billion deal.

Goldman Sachs also had a fruitful 2020, riding on investor interest in the healthcare sector and helping biopharmaceutical firm Zai Lab in its US$766 million Hong Kong listing. Another Wall Street equity house that was in the scrum was Morgan Stanley with notable wins including assisting Tesla rival NIO with its US$493 million US follow-on offering.

These firms are shortlisted for this year’s Triple A Best Equity Adviser award. Who should win?

In the equity-linked space, despite what was a difficult year, there were several trades that stood out.

Citi took part in a number of convertible bond (CB) offerings in Greater China with one of its key deals being the US$400 million CB for Zhen Ding Technology. Credit Suisse was a key equity-linked adviser for companies across different sectors spanning technology to real estate. The bank was part of Xiaomi Corporation’s US$900 million zero-coupon CB offering.

J.P. Morgan, which had a similar sectoral footprint as Credit Suisse, arranged 3SBio’s 320 million euro zero-coupon CBs. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley was behind ANTA Sports’ 1 billion euro deal in January 2020.

Who should get the recognition as the Triple A Best Equity-Linked Adviser?

Despite the economic uncertainties brought on by Covid-19, particularly when it comes to the future of office space, several real estate investment trusts (REITs) launched IPOs in Asia and in new markets such as India and the Philippines over the past couple of years.

Nominated banks for the Triple A Best REIT Adviser category are Citi, Credit Suisse and DBS – each one having captured the trend and successfully bringing forth new REIT listings. Among the outstanding examples are Citi, which took Mindspace Business Parks REIT public in India last year, Credit Suisse, which helped United Hampshire raise US$310 million and DBS, which took part in Lendlease Global Commercial REIT’s S$770 million IPO.

Who is this year’s The Asset Triple A REIT Adviser?

As per tradition, The Asset will present the winners of these categories in an Oscar-style ceremony with the official announcement taking place live on the 18th of March 2021 starting at 5pm Hong Kong time. 

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