HSBC – The Best Investment Bank in the Middle East

MENA has become an undisputed and integral part of global financing flows in recent years. The region’s issuers now consistently raise new capital and set international benchmarks, while its investors offer other regions a deep capital pool. HSBC’s global footprint and local history of over seven decades, along with our on-the-ground sector and product capabilities, makes us well positioned to lead and capitalize on these trends for our MENA clients.

HSBC’s strength and depth across every investment banking product continues to place us at the top of the league tables, making us the go-to bank for clients that are rapidly emerging as some of the world’s largest and most significant issuers and investors. Some of the landmark transactions we completed in 2023 in the region include:

• ADNOC Gas – We were the Joint Global Coordinator for the world’s third largest IPO of the year and MENA’s largest in 2023.
• Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – We were the Bookrunner and Mandated Lead Arranger for 2023’s largest sovereign syndicated loan globally.
• Public Investment Fund, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – We were the Joint Global Coordinator, Joint Bookrunner and Billing & Delivery Agent, Joint Structuring Bank for the PIF’s inaugural five and ten year sukuk issuance.

In particular, HSBC continues to be perfectly placed to facilitate one of the most significant geopolitical trends: closer ties between the Middle East and Asia.

In 2023, we presented 400+ Asian investment opportunities to our MENA clients. We helped them to secure business tie-ups, make acquisitions and enter new markets, achieving tighter pricing for fund-raising and from a wider investor base.

For instance, we helped the Arab Republic of Egypt to issue the first bond by an African borrower in China’s onshore Panda bond market. This deal, alongside a debut international sukuk bond, also led by HSBC, enabled Egypt to diversify its funding sources at a critical and difficult juncture. It was the sixth consecutive mandate we executed for Egypt, having led all public debt issuances on behalf of the Republic since 2020.

We were the sole Financial Advisor for Mubadala’s acquisition of a minority stake in India’s Cube Highways Trust, supporting its strategy of positioning more capital in neighbouring growth markets.

We were also the Global Coordinator for a first project bond by Saudi Arabia’s GreenSaif Pipelines in Taiwan’s Formosa bond market. In addition to executing the world’s first sukuk project bond, we helped the Saudi project to build the largest-ever order book for a MENA project bond.

2023 was a particularly busy year for the equity capital markets in the Middle East. Our structural innovation, execution capabilities, and ability to foreshadow key themes have made us a key partner for MENA sovereigns extending their privatisation programmes and for marquee names seeking to list their subsidiaries.

In 2023, these two themes led ECM fund-raising and enabled us to capture an overall market share greater than the next four international banks combined. Indeed, we have consistently ranked as the #1 investment bank for ECM in MENA and KSA over the last decade and our leadership continued in 2023.

We have similar strengths in debt capital markets, M&A, syndicated loans, and sustainable finance. This makes our regional investment banking franchise a trusted advisor to governments, agencies, institutions, corporates and banks as they undertake transformational deals that are reshaping the Middle East.