UBS top convertibles underwriter year to date

• Convertibles issuance totals $16.43 billion year to date

• UBS top convertibles underwriter for March

• Convertibles issuance totals $3.91 billion for March

New York, March 31 - UBS Investment Bank held its position as top underwriter of convertibles for the year so far and took first place in the monthly rankings for a second consecutive time, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

However total activity slumped from February's huge surge, falling back to essentially the same level as January.

UBS had jumped to the number one position in February, largely due to its role as sole bookrunner of parent UBS AG's sale of $2 billion notes mandatorily exchangeable for Time Warner Inc.

For March the firm was helped by its role as sole bookrunner for a $230 million offering of convertible senior notes for Informatica Corp. and $300 million of convertible senior notes for ArvinMeritor Inc. Also assisting was another exchangeable, this time $150 million from UBS AG Jersey Branch exchangeable into Mechel OJSC.

The month's biggest deals, $400 million for King Pharmaceuticals Inc. and $373.75 million for Time Warner Telecom Inc., had a relatively small impact on the league tables because the bookrunning roles were split three ways. The exception was the late-pricing Boston Properties LP exchangeable, via Morgan Stanley.

Total volume for the month was $3.91 billion, well down from February's $9.10 billion, the biggest since July 2003.

At that level, March was a little ahead of January's $3.42 billion. It was also slightly stronger than the $3.17 billion of March 2005.

Year-to-date issuance is now $16.43 billion, double the $8.12 billion at the same point last year.

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

Excluding those investment bank synthetics, the year-to-date total is $12.47 billion while March saw $3.17 billion, down from $6.31 billion in February and close to $2.99 billion in January.

Without the exchangeables, Merrill Lynch placed number one in the league tables.

Meanwhile issuance of all investment bank exchangeables - including those linked to an index or a basket of stock or indexes as well as those linked to a single stock - was $1.16 billion for the month and $5.54 billion for 2006 so far.

Year to date, including investment bank exchangeables

2005 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	UBS	3.559	7	21.67%	10	0.278	4	3.43%
2	Merrill Lynch	2.765	10	16.83%	4	0.772	7	9.51%
3	Citigroup	2.145	18	13.06%	2	1.078	13	13.29%
4	Lehman	2.035	16	12.39%	6	0.634	7	7.82%
5	Morgan Stanley	1.986	14	12.09%	1	1.895	13	23.35%
6	JPMorgan	1.255	4	7.64%	5	0.657	7	8.10%
7	Bear Stearns	0.539	3	3.28%
8	Goldman Sachs	0.503	14	3.06%	3	0.815	20	10.04%
9	Banc of America	0.479	5	2.91%	9	0.382	2	4.71%
10	Credit Suisse	0.476	12	2.90%	7	0.570	7	7.02%
	Total	16.425	153	8.115	130
	Average size:	0.107	0.062
Year to date, excluding investment bank exchangeables
					2005 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Merrill Lynch	2.765	10	22.18%	3	0.767	6	10.95%
2	Morgan Stanley	1.775	5	14.23%	1	1.754	7	25.05%
3	Citigroup	1.756	6	14.08%	2	0.847	4	12.09%
4	Lehman	1.664	5	13.35%	9	0.278	2	3.97%
5	JPMorgan	1.255	4	10.07%	4	0.657	7	9.39%
6	UBS	1.209	5	9.70%	10	0.278	4	3.97%
7	Bear Stearns	0.537	2	4.30%
8	Banc of America	0.479	5	3.84%	8	0.382	2	5.46%
9	Credit Suisse	0.464	2	3.72%	5	0.567	4	8.09%
10	Deutsche Bank	0.325	2	2.60%	7	0.510	5	7.28%
	Total	12.467	25	7.003	36
	Average size:	0.499	0.195
Year to date, investment bank exchangeables only
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share
1	UBS	2.558	18	46.20%
2	Goldman Sachs	0.650	22	11.74%
3	Citigroup	0.511	16	9.23%
4	Merrill Lynch	0.506	5	9.14%
5	Morgan Stanley	0.439	22	7.92%
6	Lehman	0.393	15	7.09%
7	Barclays	0.132	41	2.38%
8	Banc of America	0.089	4	1.62%
9	Wachovia	0.082	10	1.47%
10	JPMorgan	0.061	15	1.11%
	Total	5.538	218
	Average size:	0.025
March, including investment bank exchangeables
					2005 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	UBS	0.813	4	20.83%	7	0.180	2	5.68%
2	Morgan Stanley	0.611	6	15.66%	3	0.381	4	12.01%
3	Merrill Lynch	0.469	3	12.02%	9	0.155	2	4.89%
4	Citigroup	0.431	7	11.04%	1	0.858	8	27.06%
5	Banc of America	0.420	4	10.76%	2	0.382	2	12.06%
6	Lehman	0.364	6	9.32%	8	0.172	3	5.44%
7	Deutsche Bank	0.330	5	8.45%	6	0.260	2	8.20%
8	Goldman Sachs	0.148	3	3.79%	5	0.283	6	8.94%
9	Wachovia	0.137	2	3.51%
10	JPMorgan	0.090	1	2.30%	4	0.347	3	10.96%
	Total	3.906	68	3.171	48
	Average size:	0.057	0.066
March, excluding investment bank exchangeables
					2005 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	UBS	0.663	3	20.96%	7	0.180	2	6.55%
2	Morgan Stanley	0.525	2	16.57%	4	0.332	2	12.09%
3	Merrill Lynch	0.469	3	14.83%	8	0.150	1	5.46%
4	Banc of America	0.420	4	13.28%	2	0.382	2	13.91%
5	Deutsche Bank	0.325	2	10.25%	5	0.260	2	9.46%
6	Citigroup	0.233	2	7.37%	1	0.775	3	28.19%
7	Lehman	0.200	1	6.32%
8	Wachovia	0.125	1	3.94%
9	Goldman Sachs	0.097	1	3.06%	6	0.200	1	7.27%
10	JPMorgan	0.090	1	2.84%	3	0.347	3	12.64%
	Total	3.165	13	2.749	14
	Average size:	0.243	0.196
March, investment bank exchangeables only
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share
1	Citigroup	0.240	6	20.75%
2	Merrill Lynch	0.213	3	18.38%
3	Lehman	0.173	7	14.99%
4	UBS	0.130	8	11.28%
5	Morgan Stanley	0.113	5	9.76%
6	Goldman Sachs	0.104	6	8.99%
7	Banc of America	0.050	3	4.28%
8	Barclays	0.049	19	4.19%
9	JPMorgan	0.030	4	2.57%
10	Wachovia	0.013	1	1.09%
	Total	1.156	85
	Average size:	0.014
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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