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Thursday, 11 January 2018

EFG Hermes closes 2017 atop Thomson Reuters’ Middle East ECM league table

Our friends at EFG Hermes closed 2017 atop Thomson Reuters’ Middle Eastern investment banking league table with a number-one place in terms of both fees generated from Middle Eastern equity capital market (ECM) transactions and as the region’s top ECM bookrunner. In the tables released yesterday, TR gave EFG Hermes a total 19.1% market share of all fees from ECM transactions in 2017, putting it ahead of other finishers including Emirates NBD, Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs. EFG’s number-one placing compares against a fourth-place finish last year.

EFG Hermes was recognized as having raised USD 455.3 mn as bookrunner on six ECM transactions, more transactions than any other investment bank operating in the region. That puts it ahead of Merrill Lynch, First Abu Dhabi, Goldman and Emirates NBD. (If you have the table, to which we cannot link for copyright reasons, you’ll see EFG is ranked #6 and #9 in a tight competition via listings as both EFG Hermes and EFG Hermes UAE, the latter being the group’s arm in the Emirates. We’re combining the two rankings for the sake of clarity, which gives it the number-one finish as ECM bookrunner ahead of a three-way tie for the number-two slot.)

Overall, what was dealmaking activity like last year?

  • Total investment banking fees generated in the region stood at USD 912.4 mn, or about 0.1% below 2016. Syndicated lending fees accounted for 42% of the Middle East fee wallet last year, while DCM fees accounted for 28%, its highest full-year share since 2001, Thomson Reuters notes.
  • The total value of ECM transactions fell 36% from 2016 to USD 3.5 bn last year, the second-lowest year for equity raisings since 2009
  • M&A with any Middle East involvement came in at USD 43.8 bn in 2017, 14% below the previous year’s level.
  • Domestic M&A and transactions between Mideast counterparties rang in at USD 8.7 bn, a decline of 63% y-o-y, and outbound activity fell 35% to USD 10.8 bn.
  • Middle East debt issuance spiked to USD 103.7 bn, 33% more than in 2016.

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