Goldman top convertible underwriter year to date

* Convertibles issuance $15.99 billion year to date

* Merrill top convertible underwriter in February

* Convertibles issuance $5.02 billion in February

New York, Feb. 28 - Goldman Sachs & Co. held on to the number one position as underwriter of convertible securities so far this year even though Merrill Lynch & Co. was in top place for February by a substantial margin, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

So far this year, Goldman has brought to market $5.01 billion of convertibles compared to $4.29 billion for Merrill. In February, however, Merrill brought $3.02 billion compared to $498 million from the number-two firm JP Morgan.

Contributing greatly to Merrill's total for February was the $2.5 billion proceeds offering from Amgen Inc. for which Merrill was sole bookrunner. That offering was by far the month's biggest and accounted for half the total issuance in February.

Overall, the volume of new convertible deals totaled $5.021 billion, bringing the year-to-date figure to $15.992 billion, according to the Prospect News data.

February's figure was less than one third of the February 2001 amount of $16.241 billion.

Year-to-date, issuance is now running at 73% of the $21.938 billion total at the same point in 2001.

Out of February's total of 49 offerings, 11 for $301.095 million were retail offerings from investment banks.

2002 Year to Date

2001 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Rank	Amount	No.
1.	Goldman Sachs	5,014.70	7	4	3,991.90	8
2.	Merrill Lynch	4,290.42	10	1	6,281.10	14
3.	Salomon SB	2,003.56	9	2	4,737.90	9
4.	CS First Boston	1,789.96	8	3	4,504.70	9
5.	UBS Warburg	818.00	4	8	626.00	6
6.	Morgan Stanley	675.06	3	6	1,742.45	5
7.	JP Morgan	497.50	3	-	-	-
8.	Lehman Brothers	379.19	3	5	2,662.50	5
9.	Scotia	143.75	1	-	-	-
10.	Bear Stearns	125.00	1	9	275.00	2
11.	Banc of America	100.00	1	7	831.65	2
12.	Deutsche Banc AB	70.00	1	10	150.00	1
13.	ABN Amro	69.50	3	-	-	-
14.	Ryan Beck	15.00	1	-	-	-
	Total	$15,991.64	49	$21,937.90	40
	Average size	$326.36	$548.48
February 2002
					2001 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Rank	Amount	No.
1.	Merrill Lynch	3,019.49	7	1	5,002.35	10
2.	JP Morgan	497.50	3	-	-	-
3.	CS First Boston	451.40	2	2	3,910.95	6
4.	Salomon SB	292.50	3	3	2,399.85	4
5.	Lehman Brothers	279.19	2	4	1,425.00	2
6.	Scotia	143.75	1	-	-	-
7.	Bear Stearns	125.00	1	-	-	-
8.	Deutsche Banc AB	70.00	1	-	-	-
9.	Goldman Sachs	46.31	3	6	1,302.50	4
10.	Morgan Stanley	35.28	1	5	1,329.95	3
	Total	$5,021.41	25	$16,241.00	28
	Average size	$200.86	$580.04
Prospect News Convertibles Underwriter Rankings

Criteria

* The tables include all dollar-denominated offerings sold in the U.S. as public or Rule 144A deals reported to Prospect News.

* Offerings are included in the time period in which they settle.

* 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.

* 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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