Cantor Fitzgerald leaps 155 places to top of league table as Wall Street’s US$100 billion mania over ‘blank cheque’ companies upends the pecking order
- Cantor Fitzgerald, long one of the top underwriters of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), has been the biggest beneficiary of the boom
- The firm ended the first quarter as the No. 10 adviser on initial public offerings globally, with 99 per cent of the deals
The blank-cheque listings craze is shifting fortunes on Wall Street, knocking some of the world’s biggest banks off their perches and bringing unexpected bragging rights for others unaccustomed to competing for league table glory.
Special purpose acquisition companies raised US$100 billion in the opening three months, equivalent to more than two-thirds of the haul from all US listings. That meant league table spots were heavily affected by a bank’s expertise in a once-niche part of the market that’s suddenly ballooned in popularity.
Citigroup jumped six spots in the rankings to become the busiest IPO arranger globally in the first quarter, thanks in part to its status as the No. 1 SPAC underwriter. Rival Bank of America rose nine places from this time last year to No. 6.
On the flip side, Switzerland’s UBS Group and four Asian investment banks – China International Capital, Citic Securities, China Securities and Sinolink Securities – all dropped out of the top 10.
There was a chance to boast for firms further down the tables too. Though they still ended a way off the top, both Oppenheimer Holdings and BTIG – niche players in the world of equity capital markets – saw their IPO rankings boosted by more than 100 spots thanks to roles on SPAC listings this year, the Bloomberg data show.