Qatar’s overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) accounted for 55% of the Middle East region’s outbound M&A deals during the first nine months of this year, according to Thomson Reuters.
Acquisitions by Saudi Arabian and the UAE companies accounted for 27% and 11% respectively, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for business, said releasing its quarterly investment banking analysis for the Middle East region.
As for M&A deals, outbound M&A drove activity, up 57% from the first nine months of 2014 to reach $17.2bn, the highest first nine-month total since 2009.
Domestic and inter-Middle Eastern M&A decreased 2% year-on-year to $8.5bn. Inbound M&A also saw a marked increased, more than doubling to $4.6bn.
Energy and power was the most active sector, accounting for 31% of the Middle East involvement and the largest deal with Middle Eastern involvement during the third quarter (Q3) of 2015 was the $3.1bn offer for the synthetic rubber business of Germany’s Lanxess by Aramco Overseas.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch topped the announced any Middle Eastern involvement M&A league with $7.8bn.
“The value of announced M&A transactions with any Middle Eastern involvement reached $33.7bn during the first nine months of 2015, 23% more than the value registered during the same period in 2014 and marking the best annual start since 2010,” according to Nadim Najjar, managing director, Mena (Middle East and North Africa), Thomson Reuters.
The Middle Eastern equity and equity-related issuance totalled $2.6bn during Q3, 2015, a slight decline from the second quarter of this year. Middle Eastern debt issuance reached $16.1bn, which is more than double the value raised during the previous quarter, he added.
In respect to investment banking fees, not one investment banking component saw year-over-year percentage gains during the first nine months of 2015, with equity capital markets (ECM) underwriting declining 3% compared to last year, while fees from completed M&A transactions totalled $177.6mn, a 1% decline from the first nine months of 2014, and accounting for 37% of the overall Middle Eastern investment banking fee pool, the highest first nine month share since records began in 1980.
Syndicated lending fees totalled $174.4mn, down 36% from the first nine months of 2014, while fees from debt capital markets (DCM) underwriting declined 42% year-on-year to $47.8mn.
The Middle Eastern ECM increased 6% year-on-year to reach $5.5bn during the first nine months of 2015, marking the best first nine months by proceeds raised since 2012, the report said, adding 10 initial public offerings raised $2.5bn and accounted for 45% of first nine month activity in the region. Follow-on and convertible offerings accounted for 15% and 40%, respectively.
HSBC earned the most investment banking fees in the Middle East during the first nine months of 2015, a total of $53mn for an 11% share of the total fee pool.
HSBC topped both the completed M&A and the ECM underwriting fee rankings, while Nomura was first for DCM underwriting. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group took the top spot in the Middle Eastern syndicated loans fee ranking.