Latin Finance - January/February 2011 - 28

DEALS of the YEAR
2010

Through Tough Times

Chomnalez notes that a large part of the ﬁrm’s total EM revenue comes from LatAm. This is more than at other banks, he claims. Brazil and Mexico are the main countries of focus for Credit Suisse, says Chomnalez, who is also global coordinator for investment banking at the ﬁrm’s emerging markets council. And the Swiss bank is sticking to Mexico, despite drug wars that are starting to destabilize the industrial heartland. “In Monterrey, the situation is very very ugly,” Chomnalez admits. “The real danger is that people like us, or headquarters of companies say ‘it’s too dangerous, let’s go.’ Then it becomes far worse, a 15-year problem. That’s what happened in Colombia,” he adds. “In Monterrey, we are responsible in the community. We have an o ce there next to our clients,” says Chomnalez, adding that no one has left his team in Mexico. Besides the Chedraui IPO, Telmex consolidation and a tight Pemex tap, Credit Suisse continues to innovate in Mexico. It boasts the ﬁrst ever fundraising for a special situations fund in Mexico through certiﬁcados de capital de desarrollo, for Promecap.

And for a ﬁrm not known for balance sheet deployment, Credit Suisse distinguished itself with a lead role on a $1.5 billion senior secured term loan facility to help close a $3.9 billion reorganization plan to take Grupo México subsidiary Asarco out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The deal launched in August 2009 and funded in December that year, a time of signiﬁcant volatility.

EM Gene Pool

Credit Suisse is actively trying to link up LatAm and other emerging markets. Chomnalez predicts that the Chinese market will grow to be the size of the US, and that ultimately China will become the world’s ﬁnancial sponsor. Credit Suisse’s ﬁrst – what it hopes will be annual – emerging markets leadership forum was held last November in Doha, home to one of the bank’s major shareholders. Brazilian representatives were scheduled to meet other power brokers from elsewhere in emerging markets to discuss M&A opportunity and other kinds of investment. Thinking ahead to banking this ﬂow, Chomnalez says he is now proactively transferring upcoming junior bankers between emerging markets, including

LatAm bankers to the Middle East and Asia. A Brazilian associate may for example work a few years in the Gulf to learn how Arab sovereign wealth funds think, before returning to LatAm better able to evaluate opportunities. “We’re going to have 10-15 people moving around and wrapping up this as an emerging market group . . . hopefully I will ﬁnd a Chinese person soon to send to São Paulo,” says Chomnalez, speaking in November. According to Chomnalez, this strategy is not being replicated elsewhere. “The banks are not organized to think like that yet, so that’s where we are ahead this year,” adds the banker. As for 2011, Chomnalez is cautiously constructive. “I think it will take time to get to ‘07’s deal ﬂow, but there is a very decent amount of business for our infrastructure,” says the banker. He acknowledges year-on-year improvement in market conditions and predicts revenue growth, but cautions “the outlook is not ﬂamboyant.” Competition is stepping up, and Chomnalez notes that in Brazil, banks like Pactual have momentum. “The major obvious risk is something happening in China,” he concludes. LF

IB Rank by Fees, Year to November 29
Credit Suisse dominates wallet Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bookrunner Credit Suisse Citi JPMorgan BTG Pactual Banco Itaú BofA Merrill Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Santander Bradesco Subtotal Total
Source: Dealogic

2010 Revenue $m 163 130 128 119 112 90 85 76 75 50 1,029 1,523 % Share 10.70 8.50 8.40 7.80 7.40 5.90 5.60 5.00 4.90 3.30 67.50 100.00 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bookrunner JPMorgan Credit Suisse Santander Bradesco Citi Banco Itaú BofA Merrill Morgan Stanley Banco do Brasil BTG Pactual Subtotal Total

2009 Revenue $m 170 141 115 114 104 87 69 68 62 50 980 1,417 % Share 12.00 10.00 8.10 8.00 7.30 6.10 4.90 4.80 4.40 3.50 69.20 100.00

28 LATINFINANCE

January/February 2011

Latin Finance - January/February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Latin Finance - January/February 2011