CTBC Bank adapted well to a slowdown in Taiwan’s domestic loan market in 2016, developing its structured and leveraged financing business across the region and outperforming its peers at home.
As opportunities in the nation’s over-banked domestic market dwindled and credit exposure to China tightened, CTBC carefully leveraged its overseas platforms and structuring capabilities to rank as the top Taiwanese bank for M&A financings.
“Despite the challenging and declining Asian syndicated loan market this year, CTBC has managed to sustain growth and outperform Taiwanese peers with proactive and deepened origination work,” said Matthew Liaw, division head and executive vice president of global structured finance division. “As the bellwether of structured deals in Taiwan, the bank has been expanding horizons in acquisition finance, among others.”
CTBC was the busiest Taiwanese lender in the international markets during IFR’s review period, acting as agent bank on 13 international syndications as it expanded its focus to other parts of Asia.
Those overseas wins included a mandate from Yes Bank, India’s fifth-largest private-sector lender, to arrange a five-year US$100m loan. CTBC highlighted its distribution capability and precise market read to bring more than 10 Taiwanese banks into the deal.
CTBC was one of the three leads on a US$630m loan for Carlyle Group’s purchase of a majority stake in outsourcing company VXI Global Solutions. The loan paid all-in pricing ranging from 400bp to 500bp based on overall leverage of 5.25x.
Elsewhere, CTBC, together with three other arrangers, demonstrated its flexibility in deal structuring and underwrote a US$430m financing to back Baring Private Equity Asia’s buyout of HCP Global.
CTBC was also one of the six underwriters on a A$790m (US$592m) five-year senior facility to back China Resources Group’s and Macquarie’s acquisition of Australia-based Genesis Care, showing it could handle a relatively high leverage multiple in an unfamiliar market.
CTBC also maintained its leading position in syndicating aviation finance transactions as joint arranger of a US$700m portfolio financing facility for AerCap, the first Asia-targeted facility for the world’s largest aircraft leasing company. The bank coordinated over 20 banks in Taiwan, Japan and Singapore and successfully closed the deal with a 1.7x oversubscription.
CTBC also showed its commitment to event-driven financings in its home market. It was one of the leads on the jumbo NT$59bn (US$1.8bn) seven-year loan for cable television operator Wealth Media’s acquisition of the remaining 20% stake in Kbro.
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