JEDDAH – Middle Eastern fees reached $143.5 million during the first quarter of 2013, a 49 percent increase over the same period last year ($96.3 million). Equity issuance by Middle Eastern companies raised $2.3 billion from 6 issues during the first quarter of 2013, more than 5 times the amount raised during the same period in 2012 ($453 million). Russell Haworth, Managing Director, Middle East & North Africa at Thomson Reuters, said: “The value of announced M&A transactions with Middle Eastern targets reached $5.1 billion during the first quarter of 2013, 10 percent less than the $5.7 billion witnessed in the region during the same period last year.” Haworth added: “Bolstered by OCI NV's $2.2 billion mandatory tender offer to acquire Orascom Construction Industries, Materials was the most targeted industry during the first quarter, accounting for 43 percent of activity.” He said: “Egypt was the most active Middle Eastern country, being both the most targeted and the most acquisitive country in the region so far this year. China was the most popular target for outbound Middle Eastern M&A transactions, followed by Greece, while the United Kingdom registered the highest value of inbound M&A deals targeting the Middle East.” Citi topped the 1Q' 2013 announced any Middle Eastern involvement M&A ranking with $2.6 billion, followed closely by Barclays with $2.5 billion. Advisors on the Orascom deal (Barclays, Citi, CI Capital, Allen & Co, and Rabobank) shared first place in the Middle Eastern target M&A rankings. In respect to Middle Eastern investment banking fees, Haworth pointed out that year-on-year fee increases were seen across asset classes. Completed M&A fees totaled $47.6 million, up 81 percent from the first quarter of 2012 ($26.3 million), and accounting for 33 percent of the overall fee pool. Fees from debt capital markets underwriting in the region hit $44.1 million, up 48 percent from the $29.8 million seen during the first quarter of 2012. He noted that ECM underwriting fees totaled $16.7 million, nearly three times the total seen during the same period last year ($5.9 million), while fees from syndicated lending reached $35.1 million, up 3 percent over 2012 and accounting for 24 percent of the quarter's fee total.JP Morgan topped the Middle Eastern completed M&A fee ranking during the first quarter of 2013, earning 21 percent of the fee pool. ANB Invest took first place in the Middle Eastern ECM fee ranking with a 40 percent cut. HSBC topped both the debt capital markets and syndicated lending fee league tables during the first quarter. Haworth indicated that initial public offerings, worth a combined total of $1.6 billion, accounted for 70 percent of ECM activity in the region. Three follow-on offerings, totaling $702 million, accounted for the remaining 30 percent. The largest Middle Eastern ECM transaction so far during 2013 was Asiacell Telecommunication's IPO in February, which raised $1.2m. Bolstered by this deal, Iraq was the most active nation in the Middle East during the first quarter of 2013.As sole bookrunner on the Asiacell IPO, Rabee Securities currently leads the 1Q 2013 Middle Eastern ECM ranking with 55 percent of the market. In respect to Debt Capital Markets activity, he said investment-grade corporate debt accounted for 93 percent of Middle Eastern DCM activity during the quarter, the most since 2009. International Islamic debt issuance reached $11.5 billion from 23 issues during the first quarter, an increase of 40 percent from the previous quarter, and 57 percent from the same period in 2012. “The most active nation for international Islamic debt issuance was Malaysia with 47 percent of the activity, while the strongest industry was the financials sector. HSBC took the top spot in the Middle Eastern bond ranking so far this year with a 15 percent share of the market,” Haworth noted. Middle East includes the following countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. — SG
