Buyout shops paid 26 percent less in investment-banking fees worldwide in 2009 than they did the previous year, reflecting the credit crunch and miserable economic conditions that haunted the past year. However, fee income paid to investment banks in the fourth quarter rebounded.
Total investment-banking fees paid by sponsors for all of 2009 fell to $3.29 billion from $4.46 billion in 2008, according to Freeman & Co. The New York-based boutique advisory firm generated the data in conjunction with Thomson Reuters, publisher of Buyouts. However, fees paid during the last quarter of 2009 jumped, and actually exceeded the fees paid during the first nine months of the year.
The top fee-paying sponsor of 2009 was The
Two-thirds of fees paid in 2009 were for deals in the Americas, followed by the Europe, Middle East & Africa region with 27 percent. The Asia region accounted for 7 percent.
In terms of product distribution, M&A advisory accounted for 37 percent of all fees. Debt capital markets represented 25 percent of the total, followed closely by equity capital markets with 22 percent of all fees paid. Syndicated loans trailed the other categories, representing 16 percent of the total.
As for fee earners in 2009,
The top fee earner in 2008 was
For a complete list of top fee-paying sponsors and fee earners, plus information on the methodologies and assumptions used to gather the fee data, please check the accompanying tables.