Equity capital markets
Activity in Asia (ex-Japan) equity capital markets totalled $9.9 billion this week from 26 transactions, more than triple the $2.8 billion generated in the week prior — marking the busiest weekly level since the week of December 13, 2011 (which saw $10.7 billion raised through 48 issues).
Volume was boosted by AIG’s $6 billion sale of close to half its remaining stake in pan-Asian life insurer AIA through a block trade, led by Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan and UBS, in what was the largest Asia (ex-Japan) ECM transaction so far this year and the second-biggest deal worldwide.
On the back of AIA’s deal, Goldman Sachs now ranks third in the league table ranking. Citi and J.P. Morgan continue to lead the league table ranking with $3 billion and $2.1 billion respectively.
Debt capital markets
Four Asian issuers tapped the G3 debt capital markets for a total of $2 billion this week – the biggest of which was a $1 billion trade of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp through Citi, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC). The deal was the seventh G3 trade for the issuer, the last time the issuer sought the market was in November 2010 for a $500 million trade through J.P. Morgan, RBS, OCBC and Morgan Stanley.
The deal also helps push Southeast Asian G3 bond volume to $12.3 billion, up significantly from the $4.5 billion raised in the same 2011 period and represents the highest year-to-date level on record.
The top three banks in the league table remain unchanged with HSBC leads with $5.3 billion, followed by J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
