ANZ retained its position as the dominant Antipodean bond house after successfully adapting to an unprecedented year on both sides of the Tasman Sea. “Our priority was to support clients by providing advice, liquidity and issuer access when the market began functioning again, which actually proved quicker than anticipated,” said Paul White, ANZ’s global head of syndication. ANZ challenged for the top of the league table during the awards period, with a 14.1% share of the market. Its 79 trades encompassed a broad range of issuers, including high fee-paying sectors like corporates and financials. ANZ participated in half of the Australian government’s eight syndicated post-shutdown sales in 2020, including September’s record-breaking A$25bn print of six-year Treasury bonds and the curve-extending A$15bn June 2051 issue. The bank was at the forefront of an unusually busy corporate bond arena after Woolworths broke the drought with a A$1bn dual-trancher in May, and chalked up a
UBS continued to lead the way in Australian equity issuance in 2020, reacting quickly to the Covid-19 pandemic with tailormade solutions for clients despite increasing market competition. The Swiss bank continued its run at the top of the Australia/New Zealand equity and equity-linked league table after a run of high-profile departures in 2019, including former country head Matthew Grounds, head of investment banking Guy Fowler and equities co-head Chris Williams. Robbie Vanderzeil, chairman of capital markets, also left in early 2020. UBS reinforced its reputation as a trusted adviser to clients with 47 deals during IFR’s awards period for a market share of 16.2%, 2.8 percentage points ahead of its closest competitor, according to Refinitiv data. “We had another strong performing year which was characterised by us being really quick in evolving around the market conditions to make sure we were providing our clients flexible solutions,” said Alex Dignam, head of equity capital