denotes premium content | Jan 6 2009 Trade & Forfaiting Review magazine archive
Volume 9 Issue 4
When is a deal a ‘good’ deal and when is it ‘exceptional’? This is the question that faced the panel selecting Trade & Forfaiting Review’s 2005 Deals of the Year. Among the multitude of nominations submitted were many ‘firsts’: first time bringing a certain borrower to market; first time the final take exceeded $2bn; first syndicated financing of a particular commodity; first deal consecrated between the various parties. And not for the first time, the selection process presented a challenge.
The panel has therefore taken into account natural evolution versus active innovation. Size alone no longer merits an award. Prevailing commodity prices – especially for oil – have necessitated some of the hikes in deal size witnessed during 2005. While Calyon’s mammoth financing for Sonangol does receive an award, it is for reasons other than its size. After all, the market was not only waiting for this deal but had already factored it into 2005 budgets. Tenor is also a dubious criterion. Is it a good thing to see tenors being stretched to project-finance levels for what is essentially revolving short-term trade? In a similar vein, name lending to multinationals and foreign banks is often not as challenging as lending to regional corporates.
With this in mind, and to preserve the integrity of this year’s awards, our panel has therefore given focus to constructive challenge and genuine innovation. This applies where perseverance and creativity are evident in overcoming obstacles to lending. The panel was also looking for that ‘something extra’ in the content or delivery of a deal, such as leveraging a lender’s resources to offer additional value (eg, providing hedging/derivatives, cash management or trade services). Our intention was not to dilute the success of the many high-calibre nominations received, but to magnify the achievement of the eventual winners.
Congratulations to everyone involved in winning transactions. And a big thank you to all who sent in submissions.
We hope you enjoy this issue.
Michele Martensen, editor
Features
Deals of the Year 2005
Trade & Forfaiting Review reveals the winners of its annual Deal of the Year awards. Having received a record number of submissions, TFR toughened up its criteria this year recognising only the very best and most innovative transactions of 2005.
A year in focus
Jeremy Shaw, head of trade services at JPMorgan treasury services in London, looks back at international trade activity in 2005 and assesses the opportunities that lie ahead.
Hire expectations
As the time of year approaches when the level of bonuses – or the absence of them – triggers a ‘musical chairs’ within the industry, Aidan Applegarth, managing director of CompanyWise*, offers a timely insight into the vagaries of trade-finance recruitment.
Shifting dynamics
With oil prices at peak levels and global energy demand intensifying – not least from China and India – Erika Morphy reviews activity in the structured oil finance market.
The next step for Islamic finance
Outside of Middle Eastern institutions, Islamic finance has, until recently, been a niche offering by a handful of Western banks. But a combination of forces – growing demand, new interpretations of sukuk structures and greater familiarity with the product – is pushing it to the next stage of development. Erika Morphy reports.
Perfect fit
Olga Valverde, head of structured trade and commodity finance at Banco Santander Central Hispano, reveals her passion for trade finance and explains why her current home is a perfect fit. Amanda Greene reports.
Regulars
Arrangers of trade-finance loans by region
Dealogic league tables for full year 2005. Amounts are calculated on an apportionment basis and deals are eligible for league-table credit/inclusion when a loan agreement has been signed and fees (where applicable) are paid. Amounts in US dollars.
Emerging-market debt pricing
A recent move by the government of Chad to revise its petroleum law puts an end to a promising restart of the country’s poor economic situation. Among other things, the new law removes a World Bank favoured fund destined for future generations, to which a significant portion of Chad’s oil revenues were supposed to be assigned...
60-second interview: Dmitry Suschev
Linklaters has advised, over the course of only a few months, on the two largest financings in Russia to date – the $7.5bn syndicated loan facility for Rosneftegas and the $13.1bn syndicated loan facility for Gazprom. Trade & Forfaiting Review spoke with Moscow-based lawyer Dmitry Suschev about the larger implications behind these deals.
The syndicator’s art
Lending bank liquidity is not the full picture when assessing the continued boom in trade-related
syndicated lending to banks in the CIS, says Ben Dobson, director of global trade finance
at Deutsche Bank in London.
Letter from Hong Kong
A banker friend of mine called me and said he had arranged a commodity client seminar in Europe and one of the speakers had dropped out. He asked whether I could step in and give a short speech: “Is China encroaching in the backyard of the US; Latin America?” So I found myself saying yes, pretending once again to be the world’s best expert on everything.
Market view
Just as we speak of economies emerging or being in transition, so legal systems go through the same process, although usually at a slower pace. And the development of a legal system can do much to promote the economic growth of a country.
Country risk appetite
The trade finance market remains in good shape with little to disturb the trend towards finer pricing...
