Two years on from its takeover of Credit Suisse, UBS is making good on the potential of the combination in Asia. Translating increased scale into consistently strong performance across advisory and capital markets, it continues to pursue its ambition of being the strongest international investment bank in every market in which it operates.
That ambition is reflected in the breadth of UBS’s performance across the region in 2025. The bank ranked at or near the top of league tables across Asia, with particularly strong showings in M&A and equity capital markets, while maintaining competitive positions across debt and financing. This consistency points to a franchise that combines scale with balance, delivering across advisory, capital markets and financing without reliance on its balance sheet to drive activity.
Momentum has been reinforced by UBS’s ability to translate platform strength into execution on the most complex transactions in the region. Where scale, cross-border structuring, regulatory complexity and investor coordination are critical, UBS has been consistently present.
This [award] reflects not only the scale of our business across products and geographies but also our longstanding commitment to delivering for clients in all market conditions
Greg Peirce and Gaetano Bassolino
In 2025, the bank advised on Bain Capital’s approximately $3.9 billion sale of WinTrix’s China operations, the largest data centre M&A transaction in the country, and the $31.2 billion merger between Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities, the largest merger between Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies in 15 years. These mandates underline how UBS is relied upon in the region’s most complex situations, often as one of the few international firms able to operate at that level, where its execution capability and cross-border expertise set it apart.
This strength is not confined to mainland China-related transactions. Across the wider region, UBS has continued to originate and execute complex mandates across multiple markets and sectors. In Taiwan, it played a central role on the $14.7 billion merger between Taishin and Shin Kong financial holding companies, and also advised on the $13.4 billion privatisation of ESR Group.
For every financing need
Alongside this, it has maintained a strong pipeline of activity across Southeast Asia, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, where its combination of sector expertise, local coverage and global connectivity has translated into repeat mandates and sustained deal flow.
UBS’s equity capital markets franchise has reinforced this position, extending its relevance across the full spectrum of client financing needs. In 2025, it supported issuers across primary, secondary and equity-linked markets, including the $5.6 billion placement for BYD, the largest Hong Kong equity offering since 2021.
These capabilities sit alongside its broader financing, lending and investor distribution strengths, including access to private and wealth capital through its integrated ‘one bank’ model. This allows UBS to connect advisory, capital markets and investor demand in a coordinated way, delivering execution certainty and aligning structures with market conditions in a manner few peers can replicate.
In debt capital markets, UBS maintained strong activity across financial institutions, corporates and sovereign issuers, leading transactions for banks such as BPI, corporates including MTR and Airport Authority Hong Kong, and sovereign borrowers such as China’s Ministry of Finance. The breadth of this activity reflects both structuring expertise and the depth of its investor distribution, enabling the bank to deliver funding solutions across markets, currencies and investor bases.
Looking ahead, the focus for UBS is shifting from scale to depth, strengthening its advisory-led franchise and leveraging its uniquely integrated capabilities as it positions itself for the next wave of opportunities driven by the convergence of semiconductors, AI and the energy and resource supply chains that support them.
“We are honored to have been recognised as Asia’s best investment bank for the second year in a row,” say Gaetano Bassolino and Greg Peirce, co-heads, global banking, Apac. “This reflects not only the scale of our business across products and geographies but also our longstanding commitment to delivering for clients in all market conditions.”
