Morgan Stanley managed USD 6.03bn worth of equity capital market deals in the six months ended 30 June, making it the top ECM deal arranger for Asia Pacific, based on Dealogic data.
The value of deals managed by Morgan Stanley on an apportioned basis in the first half of 2023 increased 12% from USD 5.37bn in the same period of 2022. The deal figures include those raised by Asian companies listed in, for example, the US, but exclude Chinese A-share deal statistics.
Goldman Sachs was the region’s first runner up, managing USD 5.14bn worth of deals, which nonetheless fell from USD 5.65bn a year earlier, according to Dealogic.
JPMorgan came in at No.3, handling USD 4.66bn worth of deals, 44% more than USD 3.23bn a year earlier.
UBS, which completed the acquisition of Credit Suisse in mid-June, was the region's No.4 by arranging USD 4.51bn worth of deals, 14% more than USD 3.96bn a year earlier.
Sentiment in Asia seems to have improved slightly especially in the Hong Kong/China’s technology space, after China's science and technology ministry held a meeting on July 5 with firms including Xiaomi, iFlytek and Alibaba Cloud to discuss innovation as well as national strategic scientific and technological initiatives, according to a Reuters report.
Alibaba [NYSE:BABA]’s shares traded in the US have gained 5% so far this month. While that should make it easier to print Chinese deals, investors and bankers alike remain wary of China’s macro-economic situation.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.5% YoY in the first half of 2023, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday. In the second quarter, GDP expanded 6.3% YoY, according to the NBS.
“Chinese deals…unless it’s quality names,” it remains challenging, said an ECM banker in Hong Kong.
A Hong Kong-based investor noted that in the past few years worries about China were pretty much focused on the technology or property sectors, but now people are concerned about the entire economy.
Across the three major asset classes – initial public offerings, follow-ons and equity-linked bonds – follow-ons continued to be the bread earner for most banks, as the IPO markets remained insignificant for most parts of the region, while equity-linked bond investors continued to be demanding when it comes to terms since rates kept on edging higher in the first half.
Morgan Stanley for example, handled USD 5.49bn worth of follow-ons in the first half, 67% higher than that in the same period of 2022.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index shed 19% in the first half of 2022, but gained 8% in the six months ended 30 June this year.
Morgan Stanley was involved in the top three follow-ons of the first half - Japan Post Holdings’ [TYO: 6178] JPY 1.13trn (USD 8.99bn) secondary offering of Japan Post Bank [TYO: 7182] shares, Rakuten Group’s [TYO:4755] USD 1.91bn follow-on and Anta Sports Products’ [HKG:2020] USD 1.5bn share placement.
Goldman Sachs ranked No.2, by managing USD 4.18bn worth of follow-ons, followed by JPMorgan’s USD 3.58bn, and UBS’s USD 3.38bn, according to Dealogic.
Bank of America tops equity-linked bonds league
In the equity-linked bond space, Bank of America topped the region, handing USD 2.07bn worth of deals – from SK Hynix’s [KRX:000660] USD 1.7bn convertible bond in April, Macau casino operator Wynn Macau’s [HKG:1128] USD 600m CB priced in March, iQIYI Inc.'s [NASDAQ:IQ] USD 600m CB printed in March and CIP Funding Pty Ltd's AUD 300m (USD 207m) exchangeable bond into Centuria Industrial REIT [AXS:CIP] in February.
Nomura was a distant No.2, managing USD 656.14m worth of transactions, followed by JPMorgan’s USD 620m, and Goldman Sachs' USD 551.4m, Dealogic data show.
There wasn’t much to talk about in the IPO market given its quietness and that the market was for the most part dominated by smallish deals.
UBS, the largest IPO bank, managed nearly USD 670m worth of deals in the first half. Citi came in at No.2 by managing USD 546.7m worth of deals, followed by JPMorgan’s USD 463.5m and Morgan Stanley’s USD 442.23m, according to Dealogic.
Analytics by Raj Saiya
