BofA Securities leads Singapore’s investment banking fees so far this year with a total of $54.1 million, or a 15.2 percent wallet share of the total fee pool.

Investment banking activities in Singapore generated $354.6 million in fees in the first half of 2021 – a 9.3 percent increase compared to the first half of 2020, according to data published on Monday by Refinitiv.

Advisory fees for completed M&A totalled $143.8 million during the first six months of the year, up 150.4 percent year-on-year, while debt capital markets (DCM) underwriting fees grew 58.7 percent  from a year ago to reach $88.7 million.

Equity capital markets (ECM) underwriting fees fell 56.4 percent from the same period last year to $45.8 million, while syndicated lending fees declined 28.1 percent from a year ago to $76.3 million, the financial market data provider said.

Record M&A Activity

Overall, Singapore-announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity amounted to $80.9 billion in the first half of 2021, up 82.4 percent compared to the first half of 2020, making it the highest semiannual period on record. Performance during this period was bolstered by the de-SPAC transaction of Grab and Altimeter, valued at $31.1 billion – making it the largest Southeast Asian M&A deal on record. 

Refinitiv noted that at least 12 deals above $1 billion were announced this year, with an aggregate total of $55.7 billion, compared to the first half of last year, which counted six such deals, worth $21.6 billion in total.

DBS, JPM Lead Rankings

J.P. Morgan leads the Singapore-involved M&A league table rankings, with 45.1 percent market share and $36.5 billion in related deal value.

DBS leads Singapore’s ECM underwriting rankings, with a 27.3 percent market share and $646.4 million in related proceeds, and leads Singapore bonds underwriting with $2.5 billion in related proceeds, capturing 11.7 percent market share.