Investment banking activities in Singapore saw fees decline 15.6% y-o-y to US$221.3 million ($300.4 million) in the first quarter of 2022, with BofA Securities leading contributions.
According to data collated by Refinitiv, the bank clinched a total of US$33.3 million, or a 15.1% wallet share of the total fee pool. This was followed by JP Morgan with a 9.2% wallet share.
During the quarter, advisory fees for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that were completed during the period fell 26.8% y-o-y to US$78.2 million.
Underwriting fees for equity capital markets (ECM) grew by 59.5% y-o-y to US$63.1 million, while underwriting fees for debt capital markets (DCM) fell 14.3% y-o-y to US$31.1 million.
Syndicated lending fees generated US$48.9 million, down 38.6% y-o-y.
Meanwhile, M&A activities in Singapore increased by 13.0% y-o-y to US$28.6 billion during the period, which was led by ALD SA’s pending acquisition of LeasePlan for US$5.5 billion.
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Singapore-targeted M&A activity also grew 43.4% y-o-y to US$9.3 billion, with one de-SPAC transaction worth US$1.5 billion so far.
The transaction was made between Ethereal Tech and Arisz Acquisition Corp.
Domestic M&A in Singapore plunged 48.1% y-o-y to US$1.8 billion while inbound M&A in the country surged 147.4% y-o-y to US$7.5 billion worth of deals.
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The US was the most active acquiror by deal value taking up 52.3% of the market share.
Outbound M&A activity by Singaporean companies reached US$9.8 billion in deal value, down 12.8% y-o-y, with Thailand as the most targeted nation by value capturing 39.6% market share.
The financial sector, as well as real estate and high technology sectors were the top three sectors that accounted for deal making activities involving Singapore.
The financial sector accounted for US$12.1 billion or 42.4% of the total market share. The figure represented more than a three-fold increase in value y-o-y.
The real estate and high technology sectors saw 16.4% and 14.4% of market share among the activities, respectively.
Citi currently leads the M&A league table rankings involving Singapore with 37.8% market share and US$10.8 billion in related deal value, based on preliminary data.
During the quarter, Singaporean companies raised US$537.5 million in equity and equity-linked (ECM) issuance, registering a 60.8% decline y-o-y in proceeds.
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Initial public offerings (IPO) by Singaporean companies saw three listings worth US$16.4 million so far this year, down 97.7% y-o-y in terms of proceeds.
The three SPAC IPOs launched on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in 2022 raised a total of US$280.3 million.
Follow-on offerings grew 37.3% y-o-y, raising US$521.0 million in proceeds. Real estate accounted for 72.8% of Singapore’s ECM proceeds followed by materials with a 23.0% market share. United Overseas Bank currently leads Singapore’s ECM underwriting rankings, with a 35.4% market share and US$190.5 million in related proceeds based on preliminary data.
In DCMs, Singapore-domiciled issuers raised US$7.7 billion in the 1Q2022 through primary bond offerings, down 27.5% y-o-y on the back of a strong start in the 1Q2021.
While Singaporean companies from the financial sector topped industries with 71.6% of the market share, the total sum of US$5.5 billion raised was down 19.7% y-o-y.
Government & agencies stood second with a market share of 18.7% worth US$1.4 billion, up 12.7% y-o-y.
Industrials rounded up the top three sectors, accounting for 7.7% of the market share, raising US$595.6 million, which fell 24.4% y-o-y.
ESG-related (green, social, sustainability & sustainability-linked) bonds from Singaporean issuers raised US$1.9 billion, up 36.4% y-o-y, and accounted for 24.7% of the total Singapore-issued bond proceeds in the first quarter of 2022.
HSBC leads the Singapore bonds underwriting with US$1.0 billion in related proceeds, capturing 13.3% market share, based on preliminary data.
