The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has released its preliminary data focusing on Singapore Investment Banking for the first quarter of the year (1Q2024).
LSEG, an established provider of financial data and analytics, found that investment banking fees in the first quarter of 2024 have fallen by 14% to US$185.7 million ($251.0 million) compared to the same period last year.
Equity capital markets underwriting fees contributed to this decline, totalling US$11.8 million ($15.9 million), 36% down y-o-y. Similarly, advisory fees earned from completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions are down 74% compared to 2023 at a total of US$28.3 million ($38.3 million).
However, these declining trends were countered by debt capital market fees which grew by 3% to US$20.0 million ($27.0 million). Syndicated lending fees also saw an 86% increase reaching US$125.6 million within the first quarter of this year.
On the whole, DBS Group Holdings is leading in Singapore’s investment banking fee league table, taking up a 6.7% share of the total fee pool at US$12.4 million ($16.8 million).
LSEG indicated that the value of announced M&A transactions with Singapore involvement hit US$15.7 billion ($21.2 billion), a 5.5.% decline y-o-y. This marks a record low start to a year since 2018.
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This follows a 38.3% fall in target Singapore M&A which reached US$2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) this year. Domestic M&A similarly shed 52.7% to US$1.0 billion on the year. Inbound M&A activity hit US$1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) , declining 20.1% from the same period last year, while outbound M&A fell by 49.0% to US$5.0 billion ($6.8 billion) worth of announced deals — the lowest in six years.
Looking from an industry standpoint, Consumer Products and Services was the most successful sector involving Singapore, contributing 25.8% of M&A activity valued at $US4.0 billion ($5.4 billion). This marks a six-fold increase as compared to the same period in 2023.
Within the top three, industrials and financials accounted for 14.6% and 14.0% market share respectively. High technology secured the highest number of deals, holding 8.5% market share at $US1.3 billion ($1.8 billion), a 42.5% from last year.
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Overall, Bank of America securities led the Singapore-involved announced M&A league tables, securing 10.64% market share worth US$1.67 billion ($2.25 billion) in related deal value.
Fees generated by Singapore equity and equity-related issuance kicked off the year with a slow start, raising US$490.4 million ($662.97 million) in the first quarter, a 54.2% decline compared to 2023.
Singapore-domiciled companies raised US$458.95 million ($620.45 million) via follow-on offerings, a steep 40.1% fall from the same period a year ago.
Initial public offerings (IPOs) by Singapore companies reached a total of US$31.45 million so far, signalling a 31.8% increase. Within this group, the Singapore Institute of Advanced Medicine was noted to raise US$19.4 million ($26.2 million) in its Catalist listing, representing the biggest Singaporean-issued IPO in 2024.
Meanwhile, Singaporean issuers within the Real Estate sector shed 13.0% to US$238.2 million ($322.1 million) in proceeds, contributing 48.6% of the ECM market share.
In debt capital markets, LSEG reports that primary bond offerings fell by 6.9% in proceeds, amounting to US$6.7 billion ($9.05 billion) raised so far this year.
Singapore-owned companies within the Financials sector accounted for 52.0% market share at US$3.5 billion ($4.7 billion), marking a 28.6% decline.
Environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) bonds from Singaporean issuers secured four bond offerings valued at US$1.1 billion ($1.5 billion), making up 16% of the total Singapore-issued bond process thus far.
LSEG concludes that the Singapore-domiciled bonds underwriting table is led by DBS with US$1.14 million ($1.89 million) in related proceeds, accounting for 16.8% market share.
