Citigroup remains top convertibles underwriter year to date, while Jefferies brings highest yield deal

• Convertibles issuance totals $48.89 billion year to date

• Convertibles issuance (including synthetics) totals $57.79 billion year to date

• FiberTower deal's 9% coupon highest this year

• Merrill Lynch top convertibles underwriter for October

• Convertibles issuance $2.72 billion in October

By Kenneth Lim

Boston, Oct. 31 - Citigroup stayed atop the convertible league tables for the year through October as issuance in October continued to beat year-ago levels, but it was an unusually cheap deal brought to market by Jefferies that drew the most attention.

Citigroup did not run any non-synthetic deal in October, but remains ahead of the pack with $8.56 billion of convertibles from 23 issues year to date. Second-place Merrill Lynch, which trails Citigroup's non-synthetic amount by about $816 million year to date, nevertheless narrowed the gap with $473 million of new convertibles from three deals in October.

Citigroup also stayed put at the top when investment bank exchangeables were counted, leading second-place Morgan Stanley by just under $2 billion in year-to-date deal amount.

October's primary issuance of $2.72 billion in convertibles was 80% more than the $1.51 billion raised a year ago, but it slowed from September's issuance of $5.62 billion worth of proceeds. Including synthetics, convertible deals raised $3.12 billion in October, 75% above the $1.79 billion a year ago.

Convertible deals have raised $48.89 billion year to date, more than double the $23.95 billion in the first 10 months of 2005. The proceeds total $57.79 billion when synthetics are counted, also double the amount raised in the year-ago period.

October also stood out as the month in which a $350 million offering of six-year convertible senior secured notes by FiberTower Corp. priced with a coupon of 9% and an initial conversion premium of 15%, easily the highest coupon among Rule 144A deals this year and one of the highest among all outstanding convertibles. The deal, which was run by Jefferies, rose more than 10 points above par on its debut and climbed further on its second day of trading.

The Prospect News figures cover dollar-denominated deals offered in the United States as registered transactions or under Rule 144A. They exclude deals issued by investment banks linked to a single stock - except where noted.

Year to date, excluding investment bank exchangeables

2005 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Citigroup	8.563	23	17.51%	3	2.516	13	10.51%
2	Merrill Lynch	7.747	33	15.85%	5	2.304	15	9.62%
3	Morgan Stanley	5.595	18	11.44%	2	2.735	17	11.42%
4	Goldman Sachs	4.437	16	9.07%	4	2.425	14	10.13%
5	Banc of America	4.274	27	8.74%	6	2.191	15	9.15%
6	JPMorgan	4.191	24	8.57%	8	1.706	15	7.12%
7	UBS	3.861	17	7.90%	10	1.217	12	5.08%
8	Lehman	3.713	10	7.59%	1	3.895	12	16.27%
9	Deutsche Bank	1.911	10	3.91%	7	2.010	9	8.39%
10	Credit Suisse	1.595	14	3.26%	9	1.536	9	6.41%
	Total	48.890	114	23.947	91
	Average size:	0.429	0.263
Year to date, including investment bank exchangeables
					2005 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Citigroup	9.748	51	16.87%	2	4.318	39	14.98%
2	Morgan Stanley	7.862	85	13.61%	3	3.553	41	12.33%
3	Merrill Lynch	7.803	37	13.50%	5	2.584	18	8.97%
4	UBS	6.211	19	10.75%	10	1.217	12	4.22%
5	Goldman Sachs	5.033	36	8.71%	4	3.174	47	11.01%
6	Lehman	4.925	38	8.52%	1	4.516	28	15.67%
7	Banc of America	4.274	27	7.40%	6	2.191	15	7.60%
8	JPMorgan	4.233	56	7.33%	8	1.706	15	5.92%
9	Deutsche Bank	1.934	22	3.35%	7	2.013	11	6.99%
10	Credit Suisse	1.676	76	2.90%	9	1.541	14	5.35%
	Total	57.788	745	28.815	385
	Average size:	0.078	0.075
October, excluding investment bank exchangeables
					2005 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Merrill Lynch	0.473	3	17.39%	4	0.225	1	14.89%
2	Jefferies	0.350	1	12.87%
3	Deutsche Bank	0.330	2	12.13%
4	UBS	0.327	2	12.00%	3	0.244	2	16.13%
5	Goldman Sachs	0.287	1	10.57%	9	0.046	1	3.02%
6	JPMorgan	0.278	3	10.23%	6	0.131	1	8.68%
7	Lehman	0.250	1	9.19%
8	Banc of America	0.190	1	6.97%	5	0.172	1	11.41%
9	Wachovia	0.083	1	3.06%
10	Credit Suisse	0.080	1	2.94%
	Total	2.720	13	1.511	7
	Average size:	0.209	0.216
October, including investment bank exchangeables
					2005 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Merrill Lynch	0.474	4	15.17%	4	0.225	1	12.59%
2	Jefferies	0.350	1	11.21%
3	Deutsche Bank	0.335	4	10.73%	16	0.002	1	0.13%
4	UBS	0.327	2	10.45%	3	0.244	2	13.64%
5	JPMorgan	0.294	15	9.42%	6	0.131	1	7.34%
6	Lehman	0.293	3	9.38%	15	0.017	1	0.95%
7	Goldman Sachs	0.287	1	9.20%	9	0.058	2	3.25%
8	Banc of America	0.190	1	6.07%	5	0.172	1	9.65%
9	Citigroup	0.137	3	4.39%	1	0.333	5	18.61%
10	Credit Suisse	0.103	8	3.29%
	Total	3.123	112	1.787	31
	Average size:	0.028	0.058
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.

• The investment bank exchangeables only group also includes bonds that convert into an index, a basket of stocks or a basket of indexes.

• 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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