Investment banking fees in Singapore down 25% to US$401.8 million in H1 2023: Refinitiv
INVESTMENT banking fees in Singapore generated US$401.8 million in the first half of 2023, representing a 25 per cent drop from the same period a year earlier, preliminary data from Refinitiv showed.
Bank of America Securities took the lead in the country’s investment banking fees for H1 2023, accounting for 13.5 per cent or US$54.2 million.
While advisory fees from completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions bagged the lion’s share in terms of value, at US$162.8 million, this was still down 21 per cent from H1 2022 levels.
Overall M&A activity announced in Singapore declined 62.1 per cent in H1 2023 to US$24 billion. This is the lowest first-half value since 2014.
Singapore-targeted M&A activity fell 74.6 per cent to US$7 billion; domestic M&A activity slid 71.1 per cent to US$3.4 billion from the first half of 2022, reversing an increase recorded in H1 2022.
Deutsche Bank is in the lead for Singapore-involvement announced M&A league rankings, with US$6 billion or 24.8 per cent of the market share in related deal value, based on the preliminary data released on Friday (Jun 23).
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Fees generated from syndicate transactions accounted for US$125.9 million, a drop of 18 per cent from H1 2022.
Equity capital markets (ECM) underwriting fees were down 16 per cent to US$76.8 million.
In the first half-year, there were six initial public offerings issued by local companies, which raised a total of US$54.6 million in proceeds, down 12.6 per cent from the corresponding period the previous year.
ECM proceeds were, however, up 129.6 per cent to US$1.9 billion, as Singapore-based companies raised US$1.6 billion via follow-on offerings, which was a 104.6 per cent jump from H1 2022.
The real estate sector accounted for the largest ECM market share with 28.1 per cent or US$538.5 million in proceeds. This was followed by the industrial sector with 26.4 per cent, and the materials sector at 14.7 per cent.
DBS Group led the ECM underwriting ranking, with 16.6 per cent market share and US$317.3 million in related proceeds.
Meanwhile, debt capital markets (DCM) underwriting fees plummeted 59 per cent to US$36.4 million.
In this segment, proceeds from primary bond offerings from Singapore-based issuers declined 39 per cent to US$10.9 billion in H1 2023, continuing the downward trend in H1 2022.
The report also highlighted that the industrial sector took the top spot in terms of dealmaking activity, capturing 32.7 per cent or US$7.9 billion of the market share. This was more than double the amount in H1 2022.
This reversed the trend seen in H1 2022, when the financial sector took the top spot, making up 34.8 per cent or US$19.7 billion of the market share. In H1 2023, the financial sector was ranked fourth and contributed 14.1 per cent of the overall market share.
The other top three sectors included the real estate sector, with 22 per cent market share, which was down 63.8 per cent to US$5.3 billion, and the high-technology sector with the most transactions, with 14.2 per cent of market share. Singapore companies from the financial sector contributed 66.1 per cent market share and raised US$7.2 billion in H1, down 4.3 per cent.
There were four ESG-related (green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked) bond offerings from Singaporean issuers. These accounted for 12.3 per cent or US$1.3 billion of the total Singapore-issued bond proceeds.
HSBC took the No 1 spot for Singapore-issued bonds underwriting. It holds 15.4 per cent of the market share, or US$1.7 million in related proceeds.
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