Private Equity: Who spends the most in fees

Not only are financial sponsors becoming more active in the M&A market all the time, they are becoming ever more lucrative and important clients of investment banks in all areas of the market. According to data by Dealogic, the 10 biggest-spending financial sponsors globally accounted for $1.87 billion of total investment banking revenue in the year to August, compared with $3.23 billion for the full year last year.

Taking into account all the income the banks have earned from M&A, loans, bond and equity-related activity this year to date, 27% of this came from the top 10 global financial sponsors in the market and 3.4% from the biggest spender alone. Since the beginning of the year, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co has become the client to woo as it has spent the most on investment banking fees, a total of $231 million. So far, it has overtaken the Blackstone Group, the top spender for the whole of last year, which spent $525 million on investment banking fees in 2004.