London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG) Deals Intelligence team has released its review of China's investment banking fees for the first nine months of 2026.

Investment banking fees in China are estimated at US$12.9 billion for the first three quarters, up 7.4% year-on-year.

Equity capital markets underwriting fees reached US$3 billion, accounting for 23% of total China investment banking fees and rising 40% year-on-year.

Debt capital markets underwriting fees totaled US$9.1 billion, up 5% year-on-year.

Advisory fees on completed M&A deals came to US$503.2 million, down 40% year-on-year, while syndicated loan fees grew 6% year-on-year to US$357.9 million.

The report noted that China-related M&A deal value totaled US$274 billion during the period, down 10% year-on-year, mainly due to the absence of mega-deals, as government-led capital injection transactions inflated the prior-year comparison.

Despite the decline in deal value, the number of announced transactions rose 18.1% year-on-year, the highest level for a first three quarters since 2021.

M&A deal value targeting China stood at US$249.8 billion, down 9.4% year-on-year.

Within that, domestic M&A fell 10.6% to US$235.8 billion, inbound M&A rose 17.4% to US$14 billion, and outbound M&A grew 2.2% year-on-year to US$17.9 billion.

High technology was the most active sector, accounting for 24.9% of China-related M&A deal value at US$68.1 billion, up 69.6% year-on-year.

Financials ranked second with US$63 billion (a 23.0% market share), followed by industrials with US$44.7 billion (a 16.3% market share), up 36.4% year-on-year.

Materials took a 14.5% market share with US$39.7 billion in deal value, down 6.2% year-on-year.

On the equity capital markets side, China ECM fundraising reached US$159.4 billion in the first three quarters, up 69.9% year-on-year, the strongest performance for a first three quarters since 2021.

The number of equity offerings rose 33.7% year-on-year, marking the busiest first three quarters since 2023.

Chinese issuers raised US$37.8 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs), up 140.0% year-on-year, with the number of IPOs increasing 40.4%.

Both IPO proceeds and deal counts were the highest for a first three quarters since 2023.

Follow-on offerings raised US$94.4 billion, up 67.8% year-on-year and a five-year high, with follow-on deal counts rising 21.4%.

Convertible bond issuance climbed to a four-year high, raising US$27.3 billion, up 24.7% year-on-year.

High technology led the equity capital markets with US$62 billion in fundraising, representing 38.9% of total proceeds and surging 279.0% year-on-year, the highest total for a first three quarters since 2023.

Industrials ranked second with US$21.2 billion (a 13.3% market share).

Materials followed closely with US$16 billion in fundraising, up 226.4% year-on-year, for a 10.0% market share.

Energy and power sector fundraising reached US$12.3 billion, up 7.3% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters, total primary market bond issuance by Chinese issuers reached US$3.4 trillion, up 4.1% from the same period in 2025.

Although the number of bond issues fell 1.4%, total bond issuance in the first three quarters of 2026 still set a record high since records began in 1980.

The report noted that government and agency issuers accounted for 50.3% of total proceeds, raising US$1.7 trillion, up 2.1% year-on-year.

Financials followed with US$1.0 trillion in bond financing, a 30.6% market share, up 8.7% year-on-year.

Industrials raised US$278 billion, up 5% year-on-year, accounting for 8.2% of total issuance.

Compared with the same period in 2025, issuance also increased across a number of sectors including real estate, consumer products and services, high technology, media and entertainment, healthcare and telecommunications.