ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022 - 96

Business Life
Investment & Finance
A different and
resilient model
Thanks to its unique positioning, Degroof Petercam supports its clients over the
long term (with asset management or corporate matters), and through the economic
cycles. In this interview, Cyril KAMMOUN, CEO and Managing Partner
of Degroof Petercam Investment Banking, goes back over the differentiating
features of this positioning, and tells us more about the impact of the pandemic
and financial crisis on banking.
Cyril KAMMOUN
CEO and Managing Partner
What is Degroof Petercam's
positioning? How does your
model differ from that of
" classic " investment banks?
Degroof Petercam was founded in
Belgium, and stands out due to its
unique positioning: we are a private
bank and independent asset manager,
and a human-sized investment
bank. Our model differs in that we
are involved in both private banking,
asset management, and investment
banking for wealthy individuals, and
medium-sized companies.
Apart from providing financial advice,
we are also a fully-fledged bank with a
balance sheet, with all the constraints
that that entails. Regarding the
investment bank, we operate as traditional
investments
banks, being
active in M&A, Debt Capital Markets
and Equity Capital Markets. In other
words all the facets of business
banking, but also with trading rooms,
selling, trading, research and so on.
Consequently, we have a real capacity
in market transactions to be a
leader who takes part in and sets up
transactions with a very broad base
of pan-European and US investors.
This is also what makes our model
unique and different, notably our target
clients.
To conclude, our private banking
teams work hand in hand with our
investment banking teams, which
means that we are able to include
asset structuring teams in our structuring
and advice work in order to
provide our clients with a vision not
just of their companies, but also of
their assets as shareholders.
This is also our strength, as we do
not work in silos, but instead adopt a
client-centric and solutions-focused
vision.
What are your lines of business?
We focus on two main
lines of business: Mergers &
Acquisitions, and the capital
market.
In M&A, we draw on a strong and
indu s t r y - l eading in t e r na t i ona l
network, IMAP, which enables us to
act in over 50 countries worldwide.
And for the capital market, our Equity
Capital Market business line includes
private investments, IPOs, and goes
up to Equity Derivatives, and the
issue of convertible bonds. We also
occupy a leading position for stock
market engineering (public offerings).
In the Debt Capital Markets world
and financial advisory services, we
work on all private investment, public
debt, private debt, and structured
debt transactions, and we are also
extensively involved in restructuring.
In view of the unprecedented
context of the pandemic,
what observations have you
made of this period? How has
your sector been affected?
I would make observations. Firstly,
the pandemic has severely affected
businesses, notably in France. This is
particularly the case in some sectors,
such as retail, the hotel industry, the
restaurant industry, the car industry
and aviation, which are complicated
industries to finance, in which equity
transactions are more complex.
Secondly, during the pandemic we
have also seen a record low business
default rate. This can be explained in
particular by all the government support
for business, which has enabled
all types of businesses to survive,
even regardless of the pandemic-related
difficulties. This explains why
the expected wave of corporate restructuring
did not take place, and will
certainly not happen to the expected
extent.
And las tl y,
the pandemi c a l so
highlighted the great resilience of
the financial markets, with an underlying
trend that started a decade or
so ago in terms of liquidity,interest
rates, and company valuations. The
context bolstered liquidity and the
desire to invest, by creating opportunities
with negative or zero rates.
96 ❙
ESCP Alumni Magazine Special issue ❙ 2022
ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022

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