BEST INVESTMENT BANKS

Global Finance, Jun 2005 by Platt, Gordon, Hawser, Anita, Green, Paula L

LATIN AMERICA

INVESTMENT BANK

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs has brought the expertise and finesse that makes it a top player in investment banking activities around the world to Latin America. This blue-chip financial institution was the leading financial adviser for announced mergers and acquisitions in Latin America in 2004, according to Thomson Financial, and served as adviser on 35 deals with a rank value of $16.75 billion. Those 35 deals gave it a 43.5% market share in the Latin region for the year. Goldman Sachs also captured the lead position in completed M&A transactions in Latin America in 2004 as it moved up from second place in 2003 by dislodging JPMorgan Chase, which slipped to fifth place. This Wall Street powerhouse advised Interbrew, now called InBev, of Belgium on the unwinding of its complex relationship with Mexican brewer FEMSA. In that deal, FEMSA, also know as Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A. de C.V., and one of the largest integrated beverage companies in Latin America, bought the 30% share of FEMSA Cerveza that had been owned by Interbrew for $1.245 billion.

EQUITY BANK

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley ranked number five in its mergers and acquisitions work in Latin America in 2004 with eight deals totaling $6.9 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Morgan Stanley advised low-fare Brazilian airline GOL Linhas A�reas Inteligentes on its recent global offering of equities after advising the South American airline on its initial public offering in June of 2004. The sale in April of this year was offered to local markets and as American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange. The fastgrooving airline says it will use the money to purchase new aircraft from Boeing. Morgan Stanley's equity specialists are part of a sophisticated mergers and acquisitions department that routinely handles a range of complex domestic and international deals. These deals ranged from corporate restructurings to leveraged buyouts to defenses against unsolicited takeover attempts. For the first four months of this year, the bank announced merger and acquisition deals around the world that pushed it into the number-one spot with deals valued at $261.5 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

DEBT BANK

Citigroup

Once again, Citigroup has captured the Global Finance award for Best Debt Bank and retained its position as the top-ranking bookrunner for Latin American bonds, syndicated loans and debt exchanges. Citigroup played a part in one of Latin America's biggest corporate bond sales ever when it advised Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, on its sale of so-called perpetual bonds last September. The deal was the first time a Latin American borrower issued perpetual bonds, and the Mexican oil company received bids of about $5 billion for the $1.75 billion issue. This sophisticated deal was targeted at Asian investors searching for higher yields. They bought about 65% of the bonds. In another significant deal, Citigroup helped the government of Colombia issue $375 million (954 billion pesos) of Colombian peso currency bonds late last year. The transaction was Colombia's first issuance of pesodenominated global bonds in the international capital markets and the second time in which a Latin nation placed domestic-currency-denominated debt abroad.