No windfall for banks

Alibaba to pay banks Us$32mil for Us$12.9bil deal

> Alibaba to pay banks Us$32mil for Us$12.9bil IPO in Hong Kong

> Aramco fees also pared to Us$90mil as deal size drops

> Record fee payout was Us$550mil for the Us$19.6bil IPO of Visa in New York in 2008. Banks also earned Us$300mil from Alibaba’s own record IPO of Us$25bil in 2014.

HONG KONG: A late-year rush of giant global share sales led by Alibaba’s Us$13bil Hong Kong listing and Aramco’s Us$26bil initial public offering is failing to deliver an equivalent payday for equities bankers.

Filings yesterday revealed 17 banks will split up to Us$32.3mil for Alibaba Group’s Hong Kong deal, which will raise up to Us$12.9bil for the Chinese e-commerce giant.

Earlier this week, sources told Reuters that banks working on Saudi Aramco’s IPO would split fees worth 0.35% of the amount raised, meaning at the top of its pricing range, raising Us$25.6bil, fees would reach Us$90mil.

The numbers pale in comparison to the Us$300mil banks made from Alibaba’s own record IPO of Us$25bil in 2014.

The record fee payout was the Us$550mil banks earned for the Us$19.6bil IPO of Visa in New York in 2008.

Equity capital markets activity typically accounts for about a quarter of global investment banking fees, but capital-raising in 2019 is running at its lowest level since 2012 as a series of high-profile pulled deals and soggy floats have weighed on sentiment even as many indices hit record highs.

Office sharing start-up Wework was forced to pull its IPO in September and seek a rescue deal after investors balked at its valuation.

The deal’s failure was seen as a blow to other IPO hopefuls, already weakened by heavy falls in earlier high-profile deals such as the ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber, which have both fallen by at least a third since floating.

Worldwide, companies have sold shares worth Us$574.7bil so far this year, according to Refinitiv data, 19.7% below levels this time last year.

Those figure include Alibaba but not Aramco, which is yet to price its deal.

Until Aramco prices its IPO, Alibaba ranks as the world’s largest ECM deal this year, ahead of Uber’s New York IPO which raised Us$8.1bil and paid banks fees of Us$106mil.

Sources involved in Alibaba’s latest transaction said the Hong Kong listing was always going to pay far less than an equivalent IPO because of the company’s high profile and five years of investor familiarity with it via its New York listing.

Alibaba also held no roadshow of investor meetings - a typical feature of large deals and an organisational headache for leading banks.

“It’s one of the largest companies in the world, investors already know the story.

“The company had its quarterly results people understand this company,” said one banker involved with the deal.

China International Capital Corp (CICC) and Credit Suisse, lead the deal which launched last week and priced on Wednesday at a 2.9% discount to its Us-listed shares.

Citigroup Inc, JP Morgan Morgan Stanley were joint global co-ordinators while HSBC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) also took senior roles.

Yesterday’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed Alibaba would pay investment banking fees of Us$28.1mil for the sale of 500 million shares.

This would rise to Us$32.3mil if a so-called overallotment of an additional 75 million shares are issued, which bankers think will occur.

The fee split between the banks was not listed in the SEC documents but it is accepted industry practice that co-sponsors are paid the most and the remaining banks’ fees are dependent on the amount of shares sold.

Alibaba’s Hong Kong stock is due to start trading next Tuesday.