20 July 2022
The accolade underscores CIMB’s investment banking leadership and expertise in DCM, ECM, and M&A including ESG financing
Kuala Lumpur: CIMB Investment Bank Berhad (“CIMB”) has been named as the Best Investment Bank in Malaysia at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2022. The award reaffirms CIMB’s leadership in Malaysia’s competitive investment banking space and its contributions to the growth of the domestic capital markets and financial advisory. This is CIMB’s 9th win for the Best Investment Bank in Malaysia category since 2008.
In Malaysia, CIMB recorded the most investment banking transactions, completing 6% more deals than the next competitor and recording the highest deal value during the award’s review period of 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. This included equity capital markets (“ECM”), debt capital markets (“DCM”) and mergers & acquisitions (“M&A”) deals. CIMB ranked No. 1 in Dealogic’s Investment Banking League Table with 111 deals with US$5.7 billion in transaction value. CIMB also ranked No. 1 in Dealogic’s ECM, Bonds and Sukuk, and Islamic Sukuk League Tables respectively for Malaysia.
Jefferi Hashim, Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Investment Bank said, “We are pleased to have won the Best Investment Bank in Malaysia accolade for the ninth time at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence this year. The award is a testament to our continued leadership in DCM, ECM and M&A in Malaysia, as we continue to provide depth of expertise to our clients across ASEAN in executing creative solutions for a wide range of client goals. We also pride ourselves on offering leading environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) solutions to support clients on their respective sustainability journeys, with the ability to tap into the array of opportunities in the fast-growing sustainable finance segment."
Novan Amirudin, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Group Wholesale Banking, CIMB Group said, “We are grateful for the continued trust and support from our clients across a wide spectrum of industries. We look forward to further building on our track record of innovative solutions and excellence in investment banking as we serve clients’ diverse needs through CIMB’s leading wholesale banking franchise and ASEAN network."
In ECM, CIMB successfully completed numerous initial public offerings (“IPOs”) and follow-on transactions in Malaysia, raising total gross proceeds of RM6.5 billion. Earlier this year, CIMB successfully led the largest IPO in Malaysia since July 2021, Farm Fresh Berhad’s RM1.1 billion (USD254.0 million) IPO. The IPO secured almost 30 cornerstone investors, the highest number of cornerstone investors in a Malaysian IPO to date. During the review period, CIMB also completed the largest primary follow-on offering in Malaysia in four years since June 2017, Inari Amertron Berhad’s RM1.0 billion primary placement, as well as the top 5 block trades in Malaysia by transaction value.
CIMB’s DCM franchise, as a holistic solutions provider, has also maintained pole position as the largest bond arranger in Malaysia for 15 years and largest Sukuk arranger in Malaysia for more than a decade, based on Bloomberg data. CIMB successfully closed several landmark DCM transactions during the review period, including in the ESG space. A notable example was the Government of Malaysia’s US$1.3 billion dual tranche offering Trust Certificates due 2031 and 2051 - the world’s first-ever US$ Sustainability Sukuk offering by a sovereign for the 10 year tranche. Meanwhile, CIMB Bank’s US$500 million RegS/144A Sustainable Development Goals (“SDG”) Bond was the first ever 144A issuance by a Malaysian financial institution and first ever RegS/144A SDG Bond to be issued by a Malaysian bank in the international capital markets. Hanwha Q CELLS Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s RM150 million ASEAN Green Bonds was also the first ever Ringgit Malaysia denominated bond guaranteed by Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (a trust fund of the Asian Development Bank).
CIMB’s strong ESG credentials has enabled it to support clients across the region as they actively seek to tap into sustainable finance in order to meet funding and capital raising needs. From 2015 to date, CIMB has been the largest ASEAN-based arranger by number of deals for ESG bonds and Sukuk in the Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean and Thai markets.
CIMB was also active in both the Malaysian and ASEAN M&A markets during the review period, with seven completed deals worth US$400 million and the announcement of three deals worth US$6.3 billion pending completion. Across these deals, CIMB has demonstrated its ability to execute complex transactions amidst challenging deadlines, by leveraging its expertise in coordinating multi-stakeholder workflows across jurisdictions in addition to strong relationships with key regulatory and corporate stakeholders.