Prospera’s survey covered 27 investment banks providing corporate finance advice, of which 15 Nordic and 12 international. Respondents were asked to assess their advisors along nineteen performance criteria, ranking ethics & confidentiality, experience & competence in M&A and personal contacts the three most important criteria.
“This is the only ranking in our markets based on client feedback and it’s hence important for us to get this recognition,” John Abrahamson, head of SEB Enskilda Corporate Finance, says.
He says that in general, the Prospera result is very strong, but as always there is room for improvement.
“We’re now discussing how we can meet client demand even better going forward,” Abrahamson says.
The two main business areas in the corporate finance business are mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity capital markets (ECM). The latter includes providing advice on initial public offerings, rights issues and private placements.
SEB Enskilda ranked number one in performance in the Nordic region. This top position has been awarded to SEB Enskilda in every Prospera ranking since 2000.
SEB Enskilda was also top ranked in the Tier 1 segment – transactions that involve the largest companies and institutions – where competition from Wall Street banks is fierce. SEB had the highest overall market share of 14 per cent.
SEB Enskilda was number one in overall performance in Sweden and Finland, number two in Denmark and number five in Norway.