Bank of America top U.S. market convertibles underwriter year to date

• U.S. convertibles issuance stands at $5.79 billion for year to date

• April U.S. convertibles issuance totals $2.26 billion in seven deals

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, April 30 - Bank of America Merrill Lynch remains the top underwriter of convertible bonds in the United States for the year to date through April, having brought $1.34 billion in eight deals, or 23% of the total, according to Prospect News data.

Total U.S. new issuance for the year so far stands at $5.79 billion in 19 deals, up from $3.52 billion in 12 deals for the year through March, but down compared to the first four months of last year when $15.32 billion in 42 deals priced.

Light convertibles issuance so far this year has made the league tables something of a horse race, creating some jockeying among the top underwriters from deal to deal.

For the year so far, Goldman Sachs & Co. stands in second place having brought $1.12 billion in two deals, or 19% of the total; and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is the No. 3 underwriter, with $957 million in seven deals, accounting for 17% of the total.

Rounding out the remaining top 10 underwriting slots are Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., Wells Fargo Securities LLC, Raymond James & Associates Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., and RBC Capital Markets LLC.

For April alone, there was $2.26 billion in new issuance in seven deals, which was better than April 2011 when $1.31 billion in five deals priced.

Morgan Stanley was the top underwriter for April, when there was new paper issued only in the middle two weeks of the month. Morgan Stanley brought $725 million in four deals, for 32% of the total.

Among the month's notable deals, Tibco Software Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based business software and services company, priced an upsized $525 million of 20-year convertible senior notes to yield 2.25% with an initial conversion premium of 52.5%.

That paper, with a $75 million greenshoe, was sold via active bookrunners Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan and passive bookrunners Citigroup and Bank of America.

Wabash National Corp., a Lafayette, Ind.-based maker of semi trailers, priced $150 million of six-year convertible senior notes to yield 3.375% with an initial conversion premium of 35%.

The registered, off-the-shelf deal was sold via joint bookrunners Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

The biggest deal of the month was Micron Technology Inc.'s $870 million of 20-year convertible senior notes in two tranches, including $480 million of 2.375% convertibles due 2032, or the C notes, and $390 million of 3.125% convertibles due 2032, or the D notes.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan were the joint bookrunners of that deal from the Boise, Idaho-based maker of semiconductor devices.

Globally, there was $14.61 billion of new paper in 65 deals for 2012 so far, which is about half the $29.68 billion in 939 deals for the same period of 2011. Lead underwriter on that list was Goldman Sachs, with $2.27 billion in six deals, for 15.5% of the total. Bank of America was No. 2 and Morgan Stanley was the No. 3 top global underwriter of convertible debt for the year so far.

U.S. market, year to date

2011 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Bank of America	1.337	8	23.08%	4	1.143	10	7.46%
2	Goldman Sachs	1.122	2	19.37%	2	2.867	9	18.71%
3	JPMorgan	0.957	7	16.53%	3	2.096	17	13.68%
4	Morgan Stanley	0.809	6	13.96%	5	1.027	6	6.70%
5	Citigroup	0.450	3	7.77%	1	3.450	13	22.52%
6	Barclays	0.443	4	7.65%	7	0.717	6	4.68%
7	Wells Fargo	0.334	5	5.77%	10	0.371	4	2.42%
8	Raymond James	0.200	1	3.45%	22	0.025	1	0.16%
9	Deutsche Bank	0.077	1	1.32%	8	0.702	9	4.58%
10	RBC	0.063	1	1.09%	11	0.173	2	1.13%
	Total	5.792	19	15.322	42
	Average size:	0.305	0.365
Global, year to date
					2011 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Goldman Sachs	2.265	6	15.50%	3	3.321	12	11.19%
2	Bank of America	1.708	11	11.69%	6	1.300	11	4.38%
3	Morgan Stanley	1.454	10	9.95%	5	2.204	10	7.42%
4	JPMorgan	1.202	9	8.22%	4	2.984	23	10.06%
5	Deutsche Bank	1.043	10	7.14%	11	0.885	10	2.98%
6	Citigroup	0.940	7	6.43%	1	4.106	16	13.83%
7	Barclays	0.736	6	5.03%	7	1.147	9	3.86%
8	RBC	0.603	8	4.13%	19	0.350	6	1.18%
9	DBS	0.352	3	2.41%
10	Wells Fargo	0.334	5	2.29%	18	0.371	4	1.25%
	Total	14.612	65	29.680	93
	Average size:	0.225	0.319
U.S. market, April
					2011 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Morgan Stanley	0.725	4	32.12%	8	0.050	1	3.82%
2	JPMorgan	0.650	3	28.80%	1	0.256	3	19.52%
3	Wells Fargo	0.227	3	10.04%	9	0.050	1	3.82%
4	Bank of America	0.225	2	9.97%	3	0.196	1	14.94%
5	Citigroup	0.150	1	6.65%	4	0.196	1	14.94%
6	Goldman Sachs	0.127	1	5.63%
7	Barclays	0.077	1	3.40%
7	Deutsche Bank	0.077	1	3.40%	10	0.010	1	0.76%
	Total	2.257	7	1.309	5
	Average size:	0.322	0.262
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 (for U.S. deals), or all underwritten offerings (global deals).

• 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 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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