Australian investment banking fees have totalled US$358.0 million so far this year, according to new data released by Refinitiv, 66 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2022.
The research firm’s latest Australia investment banking review showed that completed merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory fees had sunk 77 per cent to US$91.2 million and syndicated lending fees had dropped 89 per cent to US$35.5 million.
Falls were also reported for equity capital markets (ECM) underwriting fees, which were down 25 per cent to US$88.0 million, and debt capital markets (DCM) underwriting fees, which were 31 per cent lower at US$143.3 million.
The review indicated that Australian-involvement announced M&A activity had fallen 12.2 per cent to US$31.0 billion. Target Australia M&A was up 60.8 per cent to US$25.3 billion while domestic M&A activity was down 46.5 per cent to US$3.4 billion.
Inbound M&A activity was reported to be 134.5 per cent higher at US$21.9 billion while outbound M&A activity was 86.2 per cent lower at US$2.5 billion.
Newmont’s proposed acquisition of Newcrest Mining ranked as the top deal with any Australian involvement at US$18.5 billion. By sector, materials captured a 69.6 per cent market share of the deal-making activity involving Australia and totalled US$21.6 billion.
Refinitiv said that Australia ECM had raised US$3.4 billion, an 11.9 per cent increase compared to the first quarter of 2022. Australia-domiciled companies raised US$3.2 billion via follow-on offerings, 10.9 per cent higher than the previous period.
Meanwhile, primary bond offerings from Australia-domiciled issuers were said to have raised US$36.5 billion, representing a 20.4 per cent fall in proceeds compared to last year.
Goldman Sachs is currently leading Australia’s investment banking fee league table with US$32.9 million in fees and a 9.2 per cent share, ahead of Commonwealth Bank (US$26.0 million), UBS (US$25.7 million), Macquarie (US$24.1 million) and Westpac (US$21.3 million).
Gresham Partners, which has been engaged by Newcrest in relation to the takeover deal proposed by Newmont, topped the M&A rankings, while UBS led the ECM rankings.
Jon Bragg
Jon Bragg is a journalist for Momentum Media's Investor Daily, nestegg and ifa. He enjoys writing about a wide variety of financial topics and issues and exploring the many implications they have on all aspects of life.
