Citigroup knocks JPMorgan off top of year-to-date league table

• Citigroup also leads underwriters in May

• Convertibles issuance sets high at $48.95 billion year to date

• Convertibles issuance totals $11.97 billion in May

• Gap between top three underwriters narrows to $519 million

By Kenneth Lim

Boston, May 31 - Citigroup overtook four other banks to dethrone JPMorgan atop the convertible league tables as year-to-date issuance volume reached the highest levels in at least five years.

Citigroup, which was the fifth most prolific convertible underwriter year to date at the end of April, helped to raise $7.089 billion in convertible proceeds from 19 deals as at end-May, a 14.48% slice of the total year-to-date issuance pie.

Citigroup also led the pack for May, when it raised $3.206 billion, or more than a quarter of the month's convertible proceeds, from six deals. Giving Citigroup the lead was its involvement in two of the month's largest deals - Countrywide Financial Corp.'s $4 billion two-tranche offering of 30-year convertible senior debentures and General Motors Corp.'s $1.305 billion sale of two-year convertible senior debentures.

JPMorgan, the previous leader, only took part in three deals in May with its share of the proceeds at $295 million, or 2.46% of the total. JPMorgan's year-to-date share stands at $6.57 billion, or 13.42% of the total, enough only for third place at the end of May.

Holding on to the second spot was Morgan Stanley, whose 10 deals so far this year have raised $6.79 billion, or 13.87% of the total. Morgan Stanley worked on two deals in May and helped to raise $1.472 billion in proceeds, or 12.3% of the month's volume.

The gap separating the top underwriters also narrowed in May, with just $519 million currently separating the top three underwriters, compared with $1.948 billion at the end of April.

Total issuance volume now stands at $48.946 billion, the highest year-to-date total since Prospect News kept comparable data in 2002. The year-to-date total is 86.5% more than the $26.249 billion raised in the same period in 2006.

Issuance for May rose 83.1% to $11.973 billion, the highest volume for the month since 2003, when $15.1 billion in new convertibles were issued in May. Deal volume also picked up compared to the $9.92 billion issued in April.

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	Citigroup	7.089	19	14.48%	2	4.304	11	16.40%
2	Morgan Stanley	6.790	10	13.87%	3	4.241	12	16.16%
3	JPMorgan	6.570	25	13.42%	7	1.765	7	6.73%
4	Deutsche Bank	6.097	13	12.46%	9	1.078	4	4.11%
5	Merrill Lynch	4.300	16	8.78%	1	4.382	17	16.70%
6	Credit Suisse	3.938	12	8.05%	11	0.570	4	2.17%
7	Lehman	3.338	12	6.82%	4	3.089	6	11.77%
8	Banc of America	3.072	15	6.28%	6	2.177	14	8.29%
9	Goldman Sachs	2.579	13	5.27%	5	2.399	8	9.14%
10	UBS	2.222	14	4.54%	8	1.217	5	4.64%
	Total	48.946	101	26.249	51
	Average size:	0.485	0.515
May
					2006 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Citigroup	3.206	6	26.78%	1	1.565	2	23.94%
2	Lehman	2.115	3	17.67%	2	1.375	1	21.03%
3	Deutsche Bank	1.808	4	15.10%
4	Morgan Stanley	1.472	2	12.30%	4	1.000	2	15.30%
5	UBS	0.746	5	6.23%
6	Goldman Sachs	0.608	2	5.07%	3	1.269	4	19.41%
7	Banc of America	0.492	4	4.11%	7	0.225	3	3.44%
8	JPMorgan	0.295	3	2.46%	5	0.463	2	7.07%
9	Bear Stearns	0.233	3	1.94%	10	0.050	1	0.76%
10	Barclays	0.200	1	1.67%
	Total	11.973	20	6.538	16
	Average size:	0.599	0.409
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.

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