Largest Singapore M&A deal done in 1H2019, but bankers earned lower amount of fees than before

SINGAPORE (June 24): The total value of merger and acquisition deals involving Singapore entities surged in the first half of this year, boosted by what is by far Singapore’s largest deal ever: the sale of Global Logistic Properties’ US logistics assets to Blackstone Group for US$18.7 billion ($25.4 billion). In total, some US$59.4 billion worth of M&A deals were transacted in the first half of this year alone. That is 64% more than the same period the year before, according to data from Refinitiv. However, investment bankers collected lower fees during the period. According to Refinitiv, total fees fell 16% y-o-y to US$366.3 million.

The mega M&A deals were mostly in the real estate sector, accounting for 67% of the value of the deals. The technology sector was a distant runner-up with just a 7.9% share and the industrials sector third with 5.2%.