Citi led the market with US$54m in fees, capturing a 12.5% share.

Singapore’s investment banking sector recorded a strong first half in 2025, with total fees rising 38% YoY to US$432.2m, according to LSEG’s latest Investment Banking Review.

Citi led the market with US$54m in fees, capturing a 12.5% share.

The growth was driven by broad-based gains across advisory and capital markets activities. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory fees surged 132% to US$171.1m. Equity capital markets (ECM) fees grew by 117% to US$76.2m, whilst debt capital markets (DCM) fees climbed 49% to US$80.8m. Syndicated lending was the only major segment to decline, with fees dropping 31% to US$104m.

Total M&A activity involving Singapore reached US$35.2b, up 3.2% from the same period last year. Target Singapore M&A rose 69.7% to US$16.3b, and inbound M&A grew 71.9% to US$11.2b.

Outbound M&A fell 28.4% to US$7.8b. The high technology sector led M&A value with US$5.9b in deals. JP Morgan was the top M&A advisor, handling US$3.7b in transactions.

Equity capital markets rebounded strongly, raising US$3.1b in total proceeds—an increase of 367% year-on-year. There were 16 initial public offerings (IPOs), which collectively raised US$487.6m, up 722% from a year ago.

Most listings occurred outside Singapore, notably in Hong Kong and the United States. The technology sector dominated, accounting for 61.5% of ECM volume. HSBC, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley tied as the top ECM underwriters.

Debt capital market issuance totaled US$18.9b, the highest first-half figure since 2021. Financial institutions led the segment with US$13.2b in issuance, followed by government and agencies with US$2.6b, and real estate with US$1.2b—a 271.2% increase for the sector. DBS Group ranked as the top DCM bookrunner, leading US$2.3b worth of deals.

Among the notable transactions, the largest equity deal was a US$1.5b convertible issuance by Grab Holdings Ltd, while the biggest M&A transaction was Baidu’s US$2.1b acquisition of JOYY Inc’s live streaming business.