Morgan Stanley top convertibles underwriter year to date

* Convertibles issuance totals $4.76 billion year to date

New York, Feb. 28 - Morgan Stanley continued its run as top underwriter of convertibles, ranking first for the year through the end of February, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

Morgan Stanley was also number one in January and for all of 2004.

Meanwhile the anemic pace of activity showed no improvement and is now running at a little over a third the pace of a year earlier.

February saw $2.40 billion of new deals, up from $2.36 billion in January, which was the lowest figure since last July.

Year-to-date issuance is now $4.76 billion, just 39% of the $12.30 billion total at the same point last year.

Morgan Stanley has now handled 31.8% of the year's new deals, or $1.52 billion. Merrill Lynch & Co. is in second place with $620 million - but it did place first for February.

The Prospect News figures cover dollar-denominated deals offered in the United States as registered transactions or under Rule 144A. They include equity-linked deals issued by investment banks.

Level 3 Communications, Inc.'s $880 million direct placement is not included in the figures because the banks acted as agents, not underwritters.

Excluding the investment bank synthetics, Morgan Stanley was still on top with $1.42 billion or 34% of the $4.22 billion year-to-date total. Merrill Lynch again remained second and was first for February.

The month's volume of $2.19 billion was just ahead of January's $2.04 billion, which was the smallest since July 2004's $0.93 billion.

Year-to-date 2005, including investment bank exchangeables

2004 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Morgan Stanley	1.515	9	31.81%	2	1.815	16	14.76%
2	Merrill Lynch	0.617	5	12.96%	5	1.033	6	8.40%
3	Goldman Sachs	0.532	14	11.17%	9	0.635	12	5.16%
4	CSFB	0.497	3	10.44%	8	0.654	2	5.32%
5	Lehman	0.313	3	6.57%	1	2.054	8	16.70%
6	JPMorgan	0.310	4	6.51%	11	0.375	2	3.05%
7	Deutsche Bank	0.250	3	5.25%	6	0.960	4	7.81%
8	Citigroup	0.220	5	4.62%	3	1.617	7	13.14%
9	Wachovia	0.150	1	3.15%	12	0.200	2	1.63%
10	Piper Jaffray	0.102	2	2.15%	-	-	-	-
	Total	4.761	79	12.299	75
	Average size:	0.060	0.164
February 2005, including investment bank exchangeables
					2004 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Merrill Lynch	0.473	4	19.74%	4	0.260	6	3.21%
2	Goldman Sachs	0.300	4	12.52%	13	0.005	6	0.07%
3	Morgan Stanley	0.288	3	12.02%	10	0.060	11	0.74%
4	Lehman	0.230	1	9.60%	14	0.004	4	0.05%
5	Deutsche Bank	0.202	2	8.43%	5	0.155	2	1.91%
6	CSFB	0.197	2	8.22%	2	0.330	2	4.07%
7	JPMorgan	0.185	3	7.72%	7	0.150	1	1.85%
8	Citigroup	0.155	4	6.47%	11	0.055	4	0.68%
9	Wachovia	0.150	1	6.26%	6	0.150	2	1.85%
10	Piper Jaffray	0.102	2	4.28%	-	-	-	-
	Total	2.395	39	8.117	43
	Average size:	0.061	0.189
Year-to-date 2005, excluding investment bank exchangeables
					2004 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Morgan Stanley	1.422	5	33.66%	2	1.653	9	15.29%
2	Merrill Lynch	0.617	5	14.61%	5	0.883	5	8.17%
3	CSFB	0.497	3	11.76%	8	0.654	2	6.05%
4	Goldman Sachs	0.353	3	8.36%	9	0.555	3	5.13%
5	JPMorgan	0.310	4	7.34%	11	0.375	2	3.47%
6	Lehman	0.278	2	6.58%	1	1.894	3	17.52%
7	Deutsche Bank	0.250	3	5.92%	4	0.960	4	8.88%
8	Wachovia	0.150	1	3.55%	12	0.200	2	1.85%
9	Piper Jaffray	0.102	2	2.43%	-	-	-	-
10	UBS	0.098	2	2.32%	3	1.450	3	13.41%
	Total	4.224	22	10.810	41
	Average size:	0.192	0.264
February 2005, excluding investment bank exchangeables
					2004 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Merrill Lynch	0.473	4	21.63%	7	0.260	5	3.37%
2	Goldman Sachs	0.250	1	11.44%	5	0.330	2	4.27%
3	Morgan Stanley	0.250	1	11.44%	13	0.060	8	0.78%
4	Lehman	0.230	1	10.52%	1	0.800	1	10.35%
5	Deutsche Bank	0.202	2	9.23%	8	0.155	2	2.01%
6	CSFB	0.197	2	9.01%	4	0.330	2	4.27%
7	JPMorgan	0.185	3	8.46%	9	0.150	1	1.94%
8	Wachovia	0.150	1	6.86%	10	0.150	2	1.94%
9	Piper Jaffray	0.102	2	4.69%	-	-	-	-
10	SG Cowen	0.075	1	3.43%	-	-	-	-
	Total	2.186	13	7.728	27
	Average size:	0.168	0.286
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.

* 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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