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AwardsOctober 1 2006

Investment bank of the year/ Europe, Middle East and Africa: Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank is a clear winner for Investment Bank of the Year: EMEA. The scale of its business in Europe is pretty unique, with a particularly powerful franchise across equity and debt capital markets, and FX and derivatives.
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David Fass, head of global banking for Europe at Deutsche Bank, believes it is the breadth of the business that distinguishes the bank in Europe, but says that financial sponsors have been a key driver in recent years.

“Deutsche is not dependent on any particular business. It’s very well balanced. But, certainly, our relationship with financial sponsors has been a powerful cylinder in Deutsche’s engine in the past 12 months or so. We have the ability to take risk, price it and structure it. Clients also appreciate the fact that we have the advisory business to match the products,” says Mr Fass.

If there is one area of relative weakness, then it is in M&A, where Deutsche’s franchise is not as strong as some of its competitors. Mr Fass, however, is confident that it is beginning to reach maturity. “It is a CEO relationship and these take time to build. But if you look at the 10 largest M&A deals in the past year or so, we have been involved in four of them. Xstrata is a great example. We have worked with the company on all its balance sheet work, and this year added M&A advisory for its Falconbridge acquisition.”

Mr Fass believes that the outlook for the business is good for three key reasons: financial institutions consolidation, corporate M&A and private equity. “In the next 18-24 months, there will be FIG transactions of €20bn or more in every one of the major economies; some will be cross-border. Corporate sector M&A is also poised to take off because previous restructuring, gross national product growth and cash flow generation mean that balance sheets are in great shape, and the only way to grow is by acquisition. Lastly, private equity is booming and will continue to do so,” he says.

“I therefore see no reason for activity to slow down. Whether equity markets go down by a percent or two, or growth slows a bit, it will not alter these fundamentals.”

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