(Bloomberg) — Wall Street regained the top spots in the global rankings of equity offerings from Chinese banks as initial public offerings on the mainland slowed and U.S. firms made the most of an anemic stock-selling market elsewhere.
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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose to the top of the equity and equity-linked underwriting rankings as it issued shares in many of the largest new offerings, according to rankings data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also returned to the top three as state-backed Chinese brokerage Citic Securities Co. gave up its top spot, although it retained its leading position in global IPO underwriting.
Even as stock markets around the world are battered by interest rate hikes, two wars and debate over a possible recession, about $516 billion has been raised through initial public offerings, secondaries and the red-hot convertible bond market, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs was credited with an 8.3% market share, underwriting around $41 billion in global offerings.
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Goldman is ahead of Wall Street rivals Bank of America with $38.9 billion and JPMorgan with $36 billion. The ranking consists of subscriptions to shares and equity-related instruments issued worldwide, such as equity placements and convertible bonds.
After Chinese banks topped global stock rankings in 2022, deal activity slumped from late August as regulators moved to support struggling markets with measures such as slowing IPO approvals. Citic Securities fell to sixth place in this year's rankings, while previously fifth-placed China International Capital Corp. fell back to eighth place.
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The restrictions caused the number of active IPO applications to fall to 353 as of Nov. 13 from nearly 800 just two months earlier, opening the door for international companies like JPMorgan and others to take global underwriting market share from Chinese brokers, analyst said Sharnie Wong with Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong.
“China could see its IPO pipeline further restricted as regulators are cautious about considering new listings to boost secondary market activity,” Wong said.
Goldman Sachs was an underwriter on several of the year's biggest stock deals. In addition to supporting the initial public offerings of Arm Holdings Plc and Kenvue Inc., it also helped offload billions of dollars in secondary sales, including for Japan Post Bank Co Ltd. and AerCap Holdings NV.
Overall, equity-linked products such as convertible bonds saw $108 billion issuance in 2023, up about 20% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America tops the global ranking of equity-linked companies, commanding a table share of more than 10% as it participates in deals from household names such as PG&E Corp., Uber Technologies Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. is working.
Even as global stock markets recovered, only $25.4 billion was raised in U.S. IPOs this year, a modest increase from last year's subdued volume but a 92% decline from 2021's boom, data compiled by Bloomberg show. JPMorgan has participated in the five largest US IPOs, making it the top-ranked player in the global IPO rankings among non-Chinese companies.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, initial stock offering volumes are expected to end the year at their lowest level since 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg show, despite a booming IPO market in the Middle East. The data shows Bank of America tops the rankings for equities, equity-linked securities and rights offerings in the region with $10.3 billion worth of transactions.
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Chinese IPO activity held up better than most regions despite the regulatory crackdown. Mainland stock exchanges raised $55 billion. Citic Securities, China Securities and CICC were the top three members of the global IPO rankings for the second consecutive year, with China Securities ahead of CICC in second place.
The three companies benefited from dozens of offers over the summer, when activity elsewhere was subdued. More impressively, they retained their top positions despite the sharp decline in IPOs in the final four months of the year, when new issuance in China collapsed.
– With support from Filipe Pacheco and Pei Li.
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