"One Deal a Week in Korea" Citigroup Leads IB League Table With $60 Billion in Underwriting [Financial News]

[Financial News]  As Korean companies have been moving into global capital markets more quickly, competition among foreign investment banks in the Korean market has also intensified. Citigroup has drawn attention by closing global financing deals for domestic companies at a pace of about one a week this year, putting it at the top of the Korean IB league table. 
According to Citigroup and global capital markets data provider Dealogic on the 26th, Citigroup Global Markets Securities ranked first in the Korean investment banking wallet league table with a 16% market share.
What stands out is the frequency and scale of the deals. So far this year, Citigroup has arranged 40 transactions worth a combined $60 billion in global bond and equity markets for domestic clients. That works out to more than one deal a week on average.
Market watchers note that the fundraising stage for major Korean conglomerates is rapidly expanding from the domestic market to the global arena. As large-scale investment and overseas expansion continue, demand for IB services is diversifying beyond foreign-currency bonds to include equity issuance and strategic financing.
Citigroup cited SK hynix's $26.5 billion U.S. IPO as one of its flagship deals this year. According to Citigroup, the transaction was the largest U.S. IPO ever by a foreign issuer and the biggest U.S. ADR IPO and equity offering by an Asian company.
The deal pipeline is expected to continue in the second half of the year. Citigroup said large-scale fundraising across debt capital markets (DCM) and equity capital markets (ECM) is likely to push this year's capital market issuance by Korean companies to a record high.
In particular, cross-border M&A is emerging as the next battleground beyond simple financing. The bank expects inbound and outbound transactions to rise at the same time, especially in technology, consumer goods and healthcare, as Korean companies acquire overseas firms and global companies invest in Korea.
Meanwhile, the IB industry expects the role of foreign investment banks with global networks and local financing capabilities to grow as Korean companies expand overseas investment and business restructuring. The competition in the domestic league tables is increasingly seen as extending beyond simple underwriting performance to capabilities in global financing and cross-border M&A advisory.
Park Jang-ho, chief executive of Citigroup Global Markets Securities, said, "Korea is one of Citigroup's key markets around the world." He added, "As the globalization of Korean companies accelerates, related M&A is increasing, and more clients are using Citigroup's global network for major strategic financing and advisory work."


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