SG's investment banking fees rise 30.2%

Investment banking activities generated $725.5m in fees.

Singapore’s investment banking fees have increased by 30.2% for the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period last year, according to Refinitv.

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Graph by Refinitiv

Advisory fees for completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) amounted to $248.2m so far this year, up 111.8% from the first nine months of last year. Debt capital market underwriting fees grew 39.9% from a year ago and reached $131.8m. 

Meanwhile, equity capital market underwriting fees fell 2.8% from the same period last year to $163.2m, whilst syndicated lending fees grew 2.3% from a year ago and generated 182.3m. 

Refinitv’s report said that Goldman Sachs currently takes the lead in Singapore’s investment banking fees so far this year with a total of $85.9m or an 11.85% wallet share of the total fee pool, followed closely behind by DBS Group with 11.79% wallet share. 

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Graph by Refinitiv

Record-breaking

The report also highlighted that Singapore has experienced a record period for mergers and acquisition activities amounting to $122.1b in the first nine months of 2021, up 63.3% from the same period last year.

This was led by the de-SPAC transaction of Grab Holdings and Altimeter Growth Corp valued at $31.1b. 

Singapore deal-making activity saw a total of five de-SPAC transactions with a combined value of $38.5b compared to one deal last year. Singapore-targeted M&A activity amounted to $73b, an 80.5% increase compared to the same period in 2020. 

Domestic M&A in Singapore fell 16.2% from a year ago and totalled $18.2b so far this year. Inbound M&A activity in Singapore reached record levels with $54.7b, a 192.9% growth in value from the first nine months of 2020. 

The United States was the most active acquiror by deal value taking up 75.7% of the market share. Outbound M&A activity by Singaporean companies reached $29.8b in deal value, up 41.5% from the first nine months of 2020, with the United States as the most targeted nation by value capturing 31.4% market share. 

The majority of the deal-making activity involving Singapore targeted the High Technology sector, accounting for 35.4% market share and totalled $43.3b, more than an eight-fold increase in value compared to the same period last year. Financials and Real Estate rounded out the top three with 18.1% and 17.8% market share, respectively.