Singapore 9-month investment banking fees reach 5-year high of US$693.8 million

Singapore's investment banking fees reached a five-year high of US$693.8 million in the first nine months of the year, marking a 9% increase from the previous year, according to LSEG Deals Intelligence. M&A advisory fees, which surged 23.7% to US$256 million, led the expansion and accounted for the lion's share of the total fee pool.

Equity capital markets underwriting fees rose 11.5% to US$159.8 million, while syndicated lending fees grew 11.3% to US$175.9 million. Debt capital markets fees, however, fell by 24.6% to US$102.3 million. Global heavyweight Goldman Sachs topped the investment banking fee league table with US$86.5 million, making up 12.5% of the market share.

Local lender DBS and Morgan Stanley followed with US$61.1 million and US$55.3 million respectively. Overall, M&A deal value involving Singapore nearly doubled, increasing 98.2% to US$104.3 billion, with activity driven by a record first quarter. The late-year moderation saw outbound M&A surge to an all-time record of US$46.3 billion, primarily fueled by sovereign wealth fund GIC's involvement in Anthropic's US$30 billion funding round and Singapore-based firms' acquisitions rising 88.5% to US$39.2 billion.

Technology sector dominated M&A deal value at 45.8%, while Singapore-domiciled issuers raised US$7.4 billion in equity capital markets, a 28.2% year-on-year increase. Debt capital markets saw primary bond offerings from Singapore-domiciled entities reach US$37 billion, marking the strongest year-to-date period since 1980.