• Company Announcement - Sub-Saharan African investment banking fees reached US$476.4 million in 2015
• Announced M&A transactions with any Sub-Saharan African involvement reached US$66.7 billion for 2015
• Sub-Saharan African equity and equity-related issuance totaled US$3.9 billion during the fourth quarter of 2015

Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today released the annual investment banking analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to estimates from Thomson Reuters / Freeman Consulting, Sub-Saharan African investment banking fees reached US$476.4 million in 2015, 24% more than the value recorded during the same period of last year. Fees from completed M&A transactions totalled US$174.5 million, a 96% increase from last year and the highest annual period since 2011. Sneha Shah, Managing Director, Africa, Thomson Reuters, said: “The value of announced M&A transactions with any Sub-Saharan African involvement reached US$66.7 billion for 2015, 73% more than the value registered during 2014.” 

“Sub-Saharan African equity and equity-related issuance totaled US$3.9 billion during the fourth quarter of 2015, a 93% sequential increase in value from the third quarter of 2015. Sub-Saharan African debt issuance raised a total of US$15.5 billion in proceeds for 2015, a 22% decline compared to last year, and the lowest annual period since 2012,” she added.  

In respect to investment banking fees, fees from debt capital markets underwriting also increased 41% year-on-year to reach US$63.0 million.  Syndicated lending fees fell 21% from over a year ago to US$108.1 million. Equity capital markets underwriting fees grew 14% to US$130.8 million, and accounted for 27% of the overall Sub-Saharan African investment banking fee pool.

Rand Merchant Bank earned the most investment banking fees in Sub-Saharan Africa for 2015, a total of US$48.5 million for a 10.2% share of the total fee pool.  Rand Merchant Bank also topped the completed M&A fee rankings during 2015. Java Capital (Proprietary) Ltd took the lead for ECM underwriting with 14.4% share of the ECM fee pool.  Deutsche Bank took first place for DCM underwriting with 13.2% share of the total DCM fees. Standard Chartered ranked first place for syndicated loans fees and captured 11.1% of the loans fee share.
 
As for M&A deals, outbound activity increased 13% compared to 2014 and reached US$6.7 billion in deal value. South Africa’s overseas acquisitions accounted for 74% of Sub-Saharan African outbound M&A activity, while acquisitions from Mauritius and Seychelles companies accounted for 19% and 4%, respectively. Inbound M&A significantly grew by 283% year-on-year to US$41.1 billion, the highest annual period in any given year. Domestic and inter-Sub-Saharan African M&A reached US$11.9 billion, down 32% from last year. The Consumer Products & Services industry was the most active sector with US$24.0 billion worth of deals, and accounted for 36.0% of Sub-Saharan African involvement M&A.

The largest deal with Sub-Saharan African involvement in 2015 was the US$22.6 billion reverse takeover transaction of Steinhoff International Holdings NV facilitated by an offer from Genesis International Holdings NV. Goldman Sachs topped the 2015 announced Any Sub-Saharan African Involvement M&A League Table with US$15.9 billion and captured 23.8% market share.
 
In respect to Equity Capital Markets, Sub-Saharan African ECM activity was up by 37% year-on-year to reach US$9.3 billion in 2015. This is the highest annual period for the region’s ECM activity since 2007.  Ten initial public offerings raised US$544.5 million and accounted for 6% of the ECM activity in the region, while follow-on offerings and convertibles accounted for 81% and 13% market share, respectively.  Naspers Ltd raised US$2.5 billion from a follow-on offering in December, the largest equity offering in the region so far this year. Citi took first place in the 2015 Sub-Saharan African ECM ranking with a 21% market share.

As for Debt Capital Markets, South Africa was the most active issuer nation with US$5.5 billion in bond proceeds which accounted for 35% of market activity, followed by Ivory Coast with 28% market share worth US$4.3 billion in proceeds. The Republic of Angola offered the largest bond issuance for the region this year with its US$1.5 billion sovereign debt in the form of Eurobonds.  Deutsche Bank took the top spot in the Sub-Saharan African bond ranking for 2015 with a 19% share of the market.