RMB, Standard Bank Lead on Fees, Says Reuters Report

• RMB, Standard Bank Lead on Fees, Says Reuters Report

Thomson Reuters, a source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, yesterday released the Investment Banking Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region review which showed that Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Standard Bank led on fees collection in the first half of this year.

“The most notable feature of the Sub-Saharan Africa Investment Banking fees verified in the first half of 2018 is that investment banking fees were 12 per cent less than the value recorded in the first half of 2017. This year, they only reached an estimated $241 million,” says Sneha Shah, Managing Director for Africa at Thomson Reuters.

She adds; “Fees from completed Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) transactions totaled $33.7 million, a 60 per cent decrease year-on-year and the lowest first half since 2005. On the other hand, Equity Capital Markets (ECM) underwriting fees reached $71.2 million, the highest value since 2007.”

It said Rand Merchant Bank’s (RMB) continues to lead the chart on most investment banking fees received this year in SSA with a total of $27.4 million or a 11.4 per cent total fee pool. RMB also leads completed M&A and Syndicated Loans fee rankings in second half of 2018.

Standard Bank, also known as Stanbic, leads the Equity Capital Markets (ECM) underwriting fee ranking with a 25.1 per cent share of the market and Citi leads the Debt Capital Markets (DCM) underwriting fee ranking with a 15.7 per cent market share.

In comparison, the total Sub-Saharan Africa fees from DCM underwriting fees accounted for 27 per cent of the overall SSA investment banking fee pool, the highest since 2003. Completed M&A and ECM generated 14 per cent and 30 per cent of the total fee pool, respectively, and Syndicated Lending fees accounted for 30 per cent.