U.S. Banks Losing Ground in Debt Underwriting

Banks in Asia, Europe and Canada are growing more active in underwriting the debt that companies raise to finance buyouts, the Daily Deal reported, mentioning HSBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays Capital, Société Générale and Bank of Ireland.

The non-U.S. banks are handling a larger share of the biggest underwriting deals, although mid-tier U.S. banks such as Wells Fargo and PNC Financial are active in some of the smaller ones.

Bob McCarrick, a senior managing director of corporate finance at GE Healthcare Financial Services, said at a healthcare conference that a weak dollar was helping the non-U.S. banks. The Deal also noted that,

some bankers and private equity sources said the new prominence of the EAC institutions in the U.S. mergers and acquisitions market is because they do not share the balance sheet problems of their U.S. brethren, and do not rely so much on structured financing tools.

None of this is surprising in that stronger players will naturally take on business when weaker ones are struggling. But it could mean that, once U.S. banks turn their situation around, they will still face an uphill battle in regaining the market share they lost during the hard times.