LONDON, March 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Caixa- Banco de Investimento, S.A. (CaixaBI), the investment banking arm of Portugal's largest banking group CaixaGeral de Depósitos, S.A. (CGD Group), has won "The Best Investment Bank in Portugal" award for 2013 from the London-based International Finance Magazine.

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After a rigorous evaluation of 500 nominations by an internal research team and an external research agency, IFM announced this award at its 2013 Annual Financial Awards function held in Dubai on December 18, 2013.

This is the sixth such award that CaixaBIhas won this year. The stellar performance of the bank's ECM, M&A, DCM and syndication and sales teams (DSV) played a key role in helping the bank turn in a remarkable performance during 2013.

"CaixaBI was a strong contributor to the recovery of the Portuguese economy as we played a very significant role in giving a much needed boost to the capital markets, both equity and debt," said António Gregório, Managing Director, CaixaBI.

Apart from these awards, during the year, CaixaBI once again stood out with regard to Portuguese sovereign debt, which has traditionally been a core priority for the bank. Among the 19 OEVT (the primary dealers in Portuguese government bonds), CaixaBI was ranked #2 among the "Most Distinguished OEVTs in 2013" released by IGCP (the Portuguese DMO) for the year.

CaixaBI is a full service investment bank offering its services through nine business units. These are Project Finance, Structured Finance, Corporate Finance - Debt, Corporate Finance - Advisory, Financing and Restructuring, Equity Capital Markets, Syndication and Sales, Brokerage and Research Office.

Congratulating CaixaIB on winning the award, Sunil Bhat, Publisher of IFM said "We hope CaixaBI will continue the stellar performance in the coming years as well."

In 2013, debt capital market team was strongly supported by DSV. The syndication and sales team ("DSV") was created as a syndication and distribution platform of fixed income products and credit loans of CaixaBI and more broadly of CaixaGeral de Depósitos, ("CGD") group.

On fixed income side, DSV acts at two distinct levels:

Syndication of primary issues in public debt capital markets, from its own shareholder (CaixaGeral de Depósitos, "CGD") or other domestic or international issuers that are able to access capital markets and;

On a more regular and daily basis, on the secondary market, i) giving price sustainability and guaranteeing appropriate liquidity primarily on those issues where CaixaBI acts as primary dealer or either trades actively; ii) crossing investor´s interests and positions while developing a stronger and consistent relation with counterparts and also increasing transaction volumes and diversifying offered products. .

In terms of syndication of assets for the credit portfolio, DSV syndicates mandated financing term loans by arranging club deals with a group of domestic and/or international banks. Normally, these transactions are mandated by top Portuguese corporates almost all of which are covered by CaixaBI.

DSV is also one of CaixaBI´s institutional contacts for transactions that envisage the deleveraging of the balance sheet through the sale of assets in the secondary market.

Adding to the successes on debt placements, the Portuguese capital market was boosted by the first IPO in the last five years in Portugal (CTT privatization). This operation lead by CaixaBI was a definitive contribution for the global success of all capital markets operations lead by the bank. In February 2014, CaixaBI was awarded at Euronext Lisbon Awards, as Nr.1 IPO & Seasoned Equity Offer House.

To read an article on CaixaBI in the International Finance Magazine please click on this link:

http://internationalfinancemagazine.com/article/CaixaBI-Bullish-On-Prospects-For-2014.html

About CaixaBI

Caixa - Banco de Investimento, S.A. (CaixaBI) is the investment banking arm of CaixaGeral de Depósitos, S.A. (CGD Group). CGD is the biggest Portuguese banking group, with a strong tradition in the financial system.

About International Finance Magazine

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SOURCE International Finance Magazine