The main transactions carried out by the different C&IB departments and the highlights of the first quarter of 2012 are summarized below:
Corporate Finance consolidated its leading position in the M&A market in Spain and Portugal, where it acted as adviser in 3 deals closed in the quarter: the purchase of 15% of REN by Oman Oil; the sale of Torre Picasso to Ponte Gadea; and the sale of the activities in Germany of Grupo Alfonso Gallardo.
Equity Capital Markets led the fast-track placing of 5% of Repsol’s treasury stock and participated in the share capital increases with subscription rights of Banco Sabadell, Unicredit and Peugeot, all of them in Europe. In Latin America, notable transactions were the capital increase of Fibra Uno in Mexico, as well as the capital increases with subscription rights of the Chilean companies Sigdo Koppers and Quiñenco; these have strengthened the unit’s positioning in the country’s equity markets.
Global Lending, which includes Project Finance, Structured Trade Finance and Corporate Lending, continues to be a global leader in Project Finance.
Within Project Finance in Spain there was strong participation in the renewable energy sector, with the close of a deal to finance 4 wind farms and the pioneering Borges hybrid thermal-solar and biomass plant. In France, it arranged finance for the new Tribunal de Grande Instance (Superior Court) in Paris, and a loan of €3,485m for the toll road concessionaire Eiffarie/APRR. BBVA received two awards from Infrastructure Investor magazine: “Global Infrastructure Bank of the Year” and “Infrastructure Bank of the Year in Europe.” In Mexico it financed the Soria wind farm (396 MW, the biggest in Latin America), 4 tankers for Pemex and the Nueva Italia-Apatzingán highway. In Colombia it closed finance for Reficar for $3,500m. In Asia it financed the Gunning 46 MW wind farm for the Acciona Group, and received “Deal of the Year 2011” awards for the “New Royal Adelaide Hospital” and “Mundaring Water Treatment Plant” deals.
Structured Trade Finance continues to support the export business of BBVA customers at global level, as shown by the closing of 20 deals for a total of €100m. Two more “Deal of the Year” awards were granted for the deals in 2011 with Reficar (Colombia), which involves various exporters from the United States, Sweden and Italy, and with Tupras (Turkey), with the participation of Técnicas Reunidas as exporter. BBVA also received the “Best Trade Finance Bank in Latin America” award from Global Trade Review and “Best Trade Finance Provider” in Spain award from Euromoney.
Corporate Lending continues among the market leaders in this activity in Spain and Latin America. In Europe, it has carried out transactions with major groups such as ACS, FCC, Telefónica, Mapfre, Prosegur and ENEL. It continues to consolidate its presence in the United States, with major deals financing acquisitions, including El Paso and Colfax, and with public finance operations such as that for the City of Chicago.
Global Transactional Banking has successfully launched a solution that allows customers to authorize files when they use a global host-to-host connection, including SWIFT, through a single signing device. They can use this as a communication channel for executing their financial operations with the Group. Another highlight is BBVA’s extension of its global recognition with the “Bank Ready” SWIFT certification for Argentina and Portugal and the launch in Spain of “BBVA net advance,” the new online channel accessible for non-customers. The relevant operations in Spain include: more than €300m of stable funds obtained by outsourcing treasury and securitization fund reserves from a variety of financial institutions; and the success of a request for proposal (RFP) to manage a major customer’s social insurance. This will involve recurring funds of more than €300m.
Global Markets continues to perform well in terms of customer revenue in all the geographical areas. In Spain, where revenue is up 2.6% year-on-year, there has been an outstanding revenue performance from institutional investors and corporates. By type of product, interest-rate and exchange-rate products performed particularly well. BBVA continues to be the market leader in equity brokerage, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2012, 4.5 percentage points above its nearest competitor.
In Eurasia, revenue from customers increased significantly, with a particularly notable performance by revenue from global public finance. By product, interest-rate products performed well, and lending products grew at a good rate.
In Latin America revenue from customers was also stable, while trading income increased. By type of product, interest-rate and exchange-rate products had the biggest revenue and biggest growth rates in Mexico. In contrast, lending and exchange-rate products performed best in South America, where interest-rate products still account for the biggest proportion. All the trading floors in the region had better results than in the same period in 2011, particularly in Peru, where there was a notable rise. For the first time, BBVA was leader in brokered volume in cash equity in the Mexican stock exchange in 2012, with a 10% market share. In addition, in Peru the equity research team took first place in the “Best Financial Institution in the Terms of Research” ranking organized by the Latin American Investor Relations Association (LIRA).
Finally, in the United States gross income improved, both from customer revenue and trading. Specifically, there has been a good performance in interest-rate and exchange-rate products. By type of customer, revenue from institutional investors remained stable, while corporate and retail revenue grew.