JP Morgan
The lending business is growing increasingly tough but JP Morgan has topped the global mandated arranger rankings for the past two years. While some banks have baulked at the idea of using loans to support the business, JP Morgan has continued to hold its ground.
“The discipline that is required around the balance sheet has not impacted the syndicated loan division’s enthusiasm for leading the league tables,” says Fergus Elder, co-head of loans. “We believe that our sponsorship and premier position in syndicated loans is crucial in supporting JP Morgan’s ability to leverage across the business. And a strong global presence enables us to foster and generate powerful solutions for our clients.”
JP Morgan’s view of the debt business clearly wins it mandates. Among the deals that caught the judges’ attention was Olivetti’s $15.5bn syndicated facility in March this year, on which JP Morgan was sole global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner with Banca Intesa and UBM.
In May, JP Morgan was lead-left bookrunner on $1.45bn senior revolving credit facilities for Dominion Resources. It was on this deal that JP Morgan created a new pricing structure to address the fewer number of lenders, the increasing percentage of facilities held by the largest lenders and the decreasing average bank size group. Relative Value Pricing is a mechanism that incorporates market pricing benchmarks at the time of draw-down.
“JP Morgan differentiates itself by having in-depth expertise in all of our chosen product areas, which is often difficult for our competitors to replicate. Our clients also look to us for consistent innovation, such as the Relative Value Pricing structure that we introduced earlier this year,” says Mr Elder.
