Debt issuance in the Middle East nearly doubled to $11 billion and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) reached $4.9 billion, while equity capital market issuances and banking fees fell to almost $1 billion and $91 million respectively, Thomson Reuters said in its report Sunday. Investment grade corporate debt accounted for 81 per cent of all Middle Eastern DCM activity during the quarter, while high yield accounted for 10 percent, the report said The analysis of Middle East investment banking, drawn from Thomson Reuters' data shows that compared with the same period in 2011: • Debt issuance at $11 billion - near 100 percent increase • Investment banking fees reached $90.9 million - 8 percent decline • Mergers and acquisitions reached $4.9 billion - 22 percent rise • Equity capital issuance was just over $1 billion - 21 percent fall Russell Haworth, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, Thomson Reuters, said: "Investment banking fees fell this quarter continuing last year's trend as the Arab Spring continues to take its toll on the banking sector. This quarter was the lowest quarter for fees in the region since the second quarter of 2005." Fees for M&As during the first quarter of 2012, which accounted for 51 percent of the overall fee pool, totaled $46.2 million, down 42 percent from the same period last year. Debt capital markets (DCM) fee activity in the first three months of the year was more than five times higher than during the same period in 2011 at $36.2 million. Meanwhile fees from syndicated lending and ECM totaled $5.9 million and $2.6 million respectively, it showed. Deutsche Bank topped the Middle Eastern DCM fee rankings during the first quarter earning 13.1 percent of the fees while HSBC headed the M&A fee rankings with $5.3 million. In terms of Middle East M&A activity, the telecoms sector was the most targeted industry with $1.8 billion or 36 percent of the activity. Egypt was the most active Middle Eastern country with $1.9 billion for 39 per cent of the quarter's activity. Credit Suisse topped the Any Middle Eastern Involvement M&A ranking with $3.31 billion. Lazard topped the Middle Eastern target M&A ranking controlling 36 per cent of the market with advisory work on two of the top ten deals. The top Middle Eastern targeted deal so far this year was Golden Investments Company's $987 million bid for Damas International in March. In equity capital markets follow-ons accounted for 89 percent of quarterly activity and the top Middle Eastern ECM transaction was $313 million follow-on from Saudi Arabian telecoms company Etihad Atheeb. Financials remained the most active industry in the Middle East during the first quarter of 2012 with 36 percent of activity. Telecoms and energy & power collectively accounted for 51 percent of ECM activity. Banque Saudi Fransi topped the Middle Eastern equity capital markets rankings, as sole-lead bookrunner for Etihad Atheeb's follow-on offering. In terms of overall DCM, Islamic debt issuance reached $7.7 billion from 14 issues. This was twice as much as during the first quarter in 2011. The top Islamic issuer continued to be Malaysia with 47 percent of the activity. Issuers in the financial sector accounted for 68 per cent of Islamic DCM issuance during the first quarter of 2012. HSBC took the top spot in the Islamic bond ranking for the first quarter of 2012 with 6 issues, which raised $1.9 billion.
