< The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team Vivek Khanna & team Deutsche Bank First-place appearances: 0
Total appearances: 3
Team debut: 2011 Repeating in second place is Vivek Khanna’s London-based Deutsche Bank trio. These researchers track 20 issuers and intend to add ten more names by the end of this year. Top picks for 2014 include Dutch mobile telecommunications and Internet services provider Bité Finance International and Virgin Media, a U.K.-based diversified telecoms and cable operator. Bité earns a buy rating on the strength of the 6 percent return its senior secured bond is delivering, which the analysts deem attractive on a relative-value basis. On the other hand, they recommend selling Virgin Media’s credit, doubting the company’s ability to raise prices in the current environment. Moreover, says Khanna, Virgin “has the most debt capacity within the Liberty Global group, which could be tapped to fund M&A elsewhere.” Liberty Global, a U.K.-headquartered international telecom conglomerate, acquired Virgin Media in June.