SINGAPORE: DBS Group led Singapore’s investment banking sector, earning US$59.9 million (S$82.03 million), which represents 9.1% of the total US$660.6 million (S$904.66 million) in fees generated, according to a 2024 report by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).  This marks a 14% increase in fees compared to the previous year.

According to The Edge Singapore, Singapore’s equity and debt capital markets both grew by 42%, with equity capital markets fees hitting US$108.7 million (S$148.86 million) and debt capital markets fees reaching US$106.4 million (S$145.71 million). Syndicated lending also saw a 40% rise, with US$282.5 million (S$386.87 million) in fees.

Meanwhile, advisory fees from completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) fell by 27% year-on-year (YoY) to US$163.1 million (S$223.36 million).

Merger and acquisitions

M&A activity in Singapore rebounded strongly to US$82 billion (S$112.29 billion) in 2024, a 41.1% increase from the previous year. However, the number of deals fell by 26.3%, showing that the activity was concentrated in larger transactions. Deals over US$1 billion (S$1.37 billion) rose sharply, with 16 deals totalling to US$35.1 billion (S$48.07 billion).

M&A activity within the city-state saw a 58.2% YoY increase, reaching US$27.8 billion (S$38.07 billion), while domestic transactions doubled to US$12.97 billion (S$17.76 billion).

Foreign investments into Singapore through inbound M&A rose by 29.1% to US$14.9 billion (S$20.40 billion). However, outbound M&A activity, representing investments by Singaporean companies abroad, decreased by 3.4%, dropping to US$26.7 billion (S$36.56 billion), the lowest in seven years.

The real estate sector was the largest contributor (19.1%) to the Little Red Dot’s M&A activity, growing by 112.3% YoY to US$15.7 billion (S$21.50 billion). The financial sector contributed 18.8% share at US$15.4 billion (S$21.09 billion). Meanwhile, the materials sector saw a massive 378.3% increase to US$8.9 billion (S$12.19 billion).

In 2024, Morgan Stanley took the lead in M&A activity, securing a 16.5% market share with US$13.6 billion (S$18.62 billion) in deal value.

Equity capital markets

In equity capital markets, Singaporean companies raised US$3.4 billion (S$4.66 billion) in total, a 6.5% YoY increase. Follow-on offerings made up most of this amount, with US$2.7 billion (S$3.70 billion) raised, but this was a slight drop from the previous year.

The initial ...