Rich harvest for investment banks as IPOs, block sales bloom

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Investment banks reaped a record harvest in terms of underwriting fees in the first nine months of 2024, a year that saw companies such as Ola Electric, FirstCry, Awfis and Ixigo march to the market. Thanks to a flurry of initial public offerings, block deals and private placements, underwriting fees in the equity capital markets (ECM) rose 110% from a year earlier to touch $471 million, data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) showed, the biggest nine-month haul since records started in 2000.

Jefferies topped the league by handling ECM activities worth $5 billion, cornering 11% of the market. “Both issuers and investors are capitalizing on the favourable market conditions and strong secondary markets, raising capital through additional share sales and new listings in India’s equity capital markets," said Elaine Tan, senior manager at LSEG Deals Intelligence in a report. Indian companies raised about $9 billion through IPOs in the January-September period, nearly twice as much as in the same period of 2023.

The wave of IPOs is expected to continue, with prominent names such as Swiggy, Ofbusiness, Infra.Market, Hyundai Motor India and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd in the IPO queue. LSEG's Tan also pointed to the growing list, as multinationals such as LG Electronics plan to list their Indian units. Also read | Advice or capital? Boutique i-banks have both for startup clients India ECM—which includes IPOs, block deals follow-on share sales and private placements- hit a record $49 billion in the first nine months, up about 115% from a year ago, also surpassing the annual record set in 2020 by proceeds.