JP Morgan retains lead as top convertibles underwriter year to date

• Convertibles issuance totals $36.93 billion year to date

• Morgan Stanley top convertibles underwriter in April

• Convertibles issuance totals $9.92 billion in April

• Average deal size $456 million, 19% less year over year

By Kenneth Lim

Boston, April 30 - JPMorgan held on to its lead as the top underwriter of convertibles for the year through April 30, but a strong April pipeline helped Morgan Stanley narrow the lead. Overall, convertible issuance remained robust as volume remained above year-ago levels.

JPMorgan, which took the top spot in March, brought $323 million from three deals to the market in April. Its year-to-date total stands at $6.238 billion, or 16.9% of the total convertible issuance so far in 2007.

But narrowing JPMorgan's lead was Morgan Stanley, which moved up in the tables as the most prolific underwriter for the month. Morgan Stanley helped raise $4.125 billion from three deals to lead the pack in April, catapulting it to the second spot in year-to-date terms from ninth place at the end of March. Morgan Stanley's year-to-date total is $5.318 from eight deals as at end-April.

Morgan Stanley was behind 14.4% of the total deal proceeds so far this year.

Credit Suisse also had an active month in April with $1.875 billion from three offerings, but it remained in sixth place with a year-to-date total of $3.738 billion.

Deutsche Bank continued to slip for the second month in a row. Overtaken by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche is now in third place with $4.29 billion from nine deals so far this year. It was the ninth most active underwriter in April with two deals for which it helped to raise $115 million.

The first four months of the year saw $36.925 billion raised from 81 convertibles, 87.3% more than the $19.711 billion from 35 convertibles raised in the same period in 2006. April's contribution was $9.92 billion from 16 deals, or 39.7% more than the year-ago amount. Average deal size continues to lag 2006, with the typical offering in 2007 so far raising $456 million, or 19% less than the year-ago average of $563 million.

The Prospect News figures cover dollar-denominated deals offered in the United States as registered transactions or under Rule 144A.

Year to date

2006 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	JPMorgan	6.238	22	16.90%	6	1.303	5	6.61%
2	Morgan Stanley	5.318	8	14.40%	2	3.241	10	16.44%
3	Deutsche Bank	4.290	9	11.62%	9	1.078	4	5.47%
4	Merrill Lynch	4.204	15	11.39%	1	4.055	15	20.57%
5	Citigroup	3.883	13	10.52%	3	2.739	9	13.90%
6	Credit Suisse	3.738	11	10.12%	10	0.570	4	2.89%
7	Banc of America	2.567	11	6.95%	4	1.952	11	9.90%
8	Goldman Sachs	1.972	11	5.34%	8	1.130	4	5.73%
9	UBS	1.476	9	4.00%	7	1.217	5	6.17%
10	Lehman	1.223	9	3.31%	5	1.714	5	8.70%
	Total	36.925	81	19.711	35
	Average size:	0.456	0.563
April
					2006 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Morgan Stanley	4.125	3	41.58%	2	1.417	5	19.95%
2	Credit Suisse	1.875	3	18.90%	7	0.105	2	1.48%
3	Banc of America	1.325	2	13.36%	1	1.465	6	20.63%
4	Citigroup	0.775	1	7.81%	5	0.983	3	13.85%
5	Bear Stearns	0.425	1	4.28%
6	Merrill Lynch	0.425	2	4.28%	3	1.282	5	18.05%
7	JPMorgan	0.323	3	3.26%	8	0.048	1	0.67%
8	Lehman	0.278	2	2.81%
9	Deutsche Bank	0.115	2	1.16%	6	0.733	2	10.33%
10	RBC	0.100	1	1.01%
	Total	9.920	16	7.099	10
	Average size:	0.620	0.710
Prospect News Convertibles Underwriter Rankings

Criteria

• The tables include all underwritten dollar-denominated offerings sold in the United States as public or Rule 144A deals reported to Prospect News.

• Offerings are included in the time period in which they price.

• Amounts are based on the total sales price (face amount multiplied by the offering price). The full amount is credited to the bookrunner (or lead manager if no bookrunners). For multiple bookrunners (or lead managers), the total value is divided equally among all the firms.

• Each tranche is counted as a separate deal.

• Bonds are included that convert into the issuer's or another company's stock or the cash equivalent; bonds that convert into other bonds are excluded.

• Structured products issued by an investment bank and exchangeables for or linked to another company's stock are excluded.

• Units made up of a bond and stock are included; units made up of a bond and warrants are excluded.

• Preferred issues are included using the same criteria as for bonds.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.