HSBC Picks Up Capital Markets Pace

European heavyweight HSBC appears to be picking up the pace in LatAm capital markets, consolidating a top 5 DCM position in the year to June. The bank has done a slew of high profile trades for the likes of Pemex, Femsa, Infonavit and the Brazil sovereign to land at number 4 in the Dealogic league table through June 23, with close to $2.5bn in proceeds from 19 deals. That compares to fifth place a month earlier and ninth this time last year, when it had $1.2bn credit from 8 trades. The shop is heard with a decent short-term pipeline, including a sovereign bond, two corporates and a Samurai trade for a Mexican entity, understood to be the first LatAm name in that market since 2001. The balance sheet player is developing a niche in acquisition finance, with a handful of large Brazil and Mexican trades apparently on their way to market. HSBC is trying to convert a traditional senior lending role into revenues from M&A advisory, and it is expected to announce some senior hires in that department soon. “We are trying to finance transactions where we are going to get the full spectrum of the business and establish a long-term relationship with the client,” Gerardo Mato, co-head of global banking for the Americas at HSBC tells LatinFinance. LatAm equity remains slow for the bank, which is not in the Dealogic ECM top 10 for the LatAm year to date. But a bookrunner role on Vale’s upcoming $14bn transaction coordinated globally by Credit Suisse should help change that.