Singapore bond issuance dropped a massive 35%

It hit US$6.3b at present.

According to Thomson Reuters, primary bond offerings from Singapore-domiciled issuers reached US$6.3 billion so far this year, a 34.6% decline after witnessing a record start during the first quarter of 2012, as local companies tap both domestic and foreign bond markets to raise funds.

Total proceeds grew 64.6% sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2012 which saw US$3.8 billion in proceeds.

Here's more from Thomson Reuters:

Singaporean borrowers tapped the US-dollar bond market with four new issues worth US$1.9 billion in proceeds, a 61.8% drop over the first quarter of 2012 as number of new issues fell 55.6%.

HSBC Holdings currently leads the Singaporean-issued bonds underwriting this year, with related proceeds of US$862.7 million from 10 new issues, up 19.0% from the first quarter of last year.

HSBC captured 13.8% of the market share followed by Standard Chartered which accounted for 12.7% with US$793.2 million worth of proceeds.

According to estimates from Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting Co., Standard Chartered booked an estimated US$4.0 million in fee revenues, a 251.6% increase from the comparable period last year, and accounted for 13.2% of Singapore’s bond fee pool.

Underwriting fees from bond issuance by Singaporean companies dropped 22.4% to US$30.3 million from the same period in 2012.