Davis Polk is No. 1 legal counsel to convertible underwriters, issuers for 2012

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Jan. 4 - Davis Polk & Wardell LLP, an international law firm headquartered in New York, was the No. 1 legal counsel to convertibles underwriters for 2012, facilitating $5.09 billion in issuance in 22 deals, for a 23% share of the total, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

Davis Polk & Wardell was also the top legal counsel to convertible issuers, accounting for $149 billion in two deals, or 6.7% of the total.

Latham & Watkins LLC, another international firm, was the No. 2 legal counsel to convertibles underwriters, with $3.14 billion in 13 deals, for 14% of the total for the year to date.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP ranked third for a 7% share of total issuance or $1.54 billion in five deals.

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Shearman & Sterling LLP rounded out the remaining top five legal firms providing counsel to convertibles underwriters, with $1.39 billion and $1.38 billion in issuance, respectively.

Among firms that provided legal counsel to convertible issuers, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP were the No. 2 and No. 3 ranking counsel to issuers, after Davis Polk & Wardell, accounting for $1.1 billion and $1.07 billion in new issuance, respectively, for 6.5% and 4.9% of the total.

In house legal counsel accounted for $1.04 billion in issuance, or 4.7% of the total.

Details on the legal counsel of all new issues for the year weren't available to Prospect News. In all, there were 84 convertibles deals, totaling $22.33 billion of new issuance for 2012, compared to 84 deals totaling $25.95 billion for 2011.

U.S. market, year to date

2011 Comparables

	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	5.087	22	22.79%	2	5.683	24	21.90%
2	Latham & Watkins LLP	3.135	13	14.04%	5	2.127	8	8.20%
3	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	1.535	5	6.87%	4	2.745	10	10.58%
4	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	1.387	2	6.21%	9	0.550	2	2.12%
5	Shearman & Sterling LLP	1.380	1	6.18%
6	Hunton & Williams LLP	1.274	3	5.71%
7	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP	1.165	3	5.22%	6	1.981	4	7.63%
8	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	0.862	2	3.86%	7	0.859	5	3.31%
9	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	0.483	2	2.16%	14	0.155	1	0.60%
10	Vinson & Elkins LLP	0.350	2	1.57%
	Total	22.328	84	25.951	84
U.S. market, year to date
					2011 Comparables
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	1.485	2	6.65%	10	0.780	2	3.01%
2	Cooley LLP	1.455	7	6.52%	30	0.120	1	0.46%
3	Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz	1.100	1	4.93%
4	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	1.069	2	4.79%	13	0.613	2	2.36%
5	In house	1.043	3	4.67%
6	Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP	0.915	2	4.10%
7	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	0.860	4	3.85%	6	1.064	2	4.10%
8	Latham & Watkins LLP	0.835	4	3.74%	5	1.155	6	4.45%
9	K&L Gates LLP	0.785	2	3.52%
10	Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP	0.690	1	3.09%
	Total	22.328	84	25.951	84
Prospect News Convertibles Counsel 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 issuer's counsel or underwriter's counsel.

• 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.

• 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.