team spirit - Bankier.pl

Corporate finance,
not just for large
companies
Complete range of
services for public
sector customers
ket base. “BusinessPlanner”, our efficient planning software for
corporates, was also a core product in 2005 as part of BA-CA’s
Integrated Corporate Finance approach (under the slogan “Look
at your company with different eyes”). Following on from its
market leadership in Austria and introduction in Germany, the
adaptation of the software for the Czech market is the first step
to rolling it out in CEE.
The Public Sector unit has always accommodated the traditionally
strong partnership between BA-CA and the public sector
in Austria by way of a special relationship management
strategy. Following an internal restructuring process, we now
offer a complete range of services throughout Austria for the
transaction and settlement of day-to-day business as well as
designing complex financing and investment solutions. BA-CA
was thus Lead Manager for the first bond issue of Wien Holding
GmbH and successfully placed funds for institutional investors on
the money market. It also launched “FinanzCheck”, an advisory
product for municipalities. The public sector is using our expertise
in public-private partnerships, acquired both in Austria (truck toll
system) and abroad (various CEE projects), to an increasing degree
as an alternative to standard solutions. In 2005, the Public Sector
unit generated operating revenues of over € 72 m based on a
business volume of about € 22 bn. Thanks to its low-cost
administrative structure, a low provisioning requirement and
minimal equity requirements, it is one of the most profitable
areas of the bank.
In Austria, we are the clear leader in the area of export and
investment promotion finance, which comprises export
credit guarantees covered by Oesterreichische Kontrollbank,
international acquisition financings and long-term investment
finance taking advantage of national and international assistance
programmes. We also avail ourselves more than any other
Austrian bank of EIB and KfW facilities for our core markets.
Increased investment both in Austria and abroad, particularly
in CEE and Asia, led to a higher volume of long-term export
finance products in 2005 as a low-interest alternative financing
method. In many cases this also led to business potential
in other areas: for example, Treasury transactions as well as
account relationships with our banking subsidiaries were
arranged locally. Increasing business volumes and growing
market shares form the basis for future revenues.
Close contact with newly-established private export credit
insurance agencies broadens our product range. For companies
in Vienna, the range of financing products has been further
expanded by the City of Vienna’s export credit promotion
scheme.
66 International Corporates and Special Finance
CA IB: Equity Capital Markets and M&A
Within UniCredit Group, CA IB Corporate Finance is responsible
for strategic corporate finance advisory, equity capital markets
and merchant banking origination services for Austria and
Central and Eastern Europe. CA IB Corporate Finance achieved
its best result ever in 2005, with transaction volume exceeding
€ 10 bn.
Among CA IB’s many projects in equity capital markets (ECM),
several should be mentioned for their special character:
Turkey’s largest petrochemical producer Petkim’s high profile
USD 285 m SPO; the € 56 m IPO of Tallinna Vesi, the Estonian
capital’s water utility company, was nearly 7 times covered;
and in Poland CA IB executed the IPOs of Amrest (USD 60 m)
and Pulawy (USD 92 m) as well as Bioton and its follow-on
ABB (totalling USD 67 m).
On the back of the strong performance of the Vienna Stock
Exchange, our Austrian ECM business once again executed a
sizable number of transactions. Notable deals include the capital
increases of Boehler Uddeholm (€ 235 m) and Schoeller-
Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment (€ 84 m). We also arranged the
first ever NASDAQ/Vienna Stock Exchange dual listing for
Century Casinos’ € 41m capital increase. Last but not least,
Sky Europe’s € 71 m IPO with a dual listing in Vienna and Warsaw
won an award as best IPO from a new EU member state
in 2005.
In Corporate Finance Advisory, which constitutes some
70 % of CA IB’s total revenue, CA IB worked on over 100 projects
in 15 countries. Noteworthy deals include CA IB’s role
advising on transactions in the steel sector,
Advising on major
such as the € 2.4 bn acquisition of Erdemir by
international
acquisitions
OYAK, a Turkish pension fund, and the € 4
bn acquisition of Ukraine’s largest steel producer
Krivorizhstal by Mittal Steel. We also advised BAA (UK), the
world’s largest airport operator, on the € 1.85 bn acquisition
of Budapest Airport Ferihegy. In Austria, CA IB successfully
advised First Data (USA) on its acquisition of APSS, and Irish
group CRH on its acquisition of Quester Baustoffhandel.
CA IB Merchant Banking, in its first full year of operations,
was successful in arranging structured pre-IPO financing for
Bioton, a Polish bio-pharma insulin producer, and a strategic
investment by BA-CA in Bioton with a subsequent exit via
accelerated bookbuilding.
Looking ahead, Central and Eastern Europe will remain the
core of CA IB Corporate Finance’s business. Strategic capital
flows from West to East and equity capital flows from institutional
investors show no sign of abating.