Cahill Gordon stays top high-yield underwriter's counsel; Sullivan & Cromwell No. 1 issuer's counsel

New York, Sept. 6 - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP continued to dominate the league tables for counsel to underwriters of high-yield bonds, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

The firm placed first for the year through August, as it has for the year-to-date rankings in every month this year apart from January.

For issuer's counsel, in-house attorneys were once again the No. 1 option. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP again led among external legal advisers.

Sullivan & Cromwell has led for the past four months for advice to issuers.

Among underwriter's counsel, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP took the No. 2 position for a second month while Cravath Swaine & Moore moved up to third. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP fell to fourth position, down from third for the year through July and second for the year through June.

For issuers' counsel, Kirkland & Ellis LLP rose to second while Debevoise & Plimpton LLP slipped to third.

The tables cover high-yield bond deals offered in the United States via a registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission or under Rule 144A. The identity of legal advisers was not available for all deals, particularly those from emerging markets issuers.

Underwriter's counsel, U.S. market, all issuers, year to date

	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	60.358	101	29.04%
2	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	16.429	31	7.90%
3	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	15.803	28	7.60%
4	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	15.647	23	7.53%
5	Shearman & Sterling LLP	11.903	22	5.73%
6	Latham & Watkins LLP	7.948	18	3.82%
7	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	2.829	8	1.36%
8	Baker Botts LLP	2.587	8	1.24%
9	Vinson & Elkins LLP	2.531	6	1.22%
10	Andrews Kurth LLP	2.351	5	1.13%
	Total	207.864	438
Underwriter's counsel, U.S. market, U.S. issuers, year to date
	Underwriter's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	56.930	93	33.40%
2	Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP	14.077	25	8.26%
3	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	13.350	26	7.83%
4	Shearman & Sterling LLP	9.614	18	5.64%
5	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	9.255	15	5.43%
6	Latham & Watkins LLP	7.948	18	4.66%
7	Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP	2.829	8	1.66%
8	Baker Botts LLP	2.587	8	1.52%
9	Vinson & Elkins LLP	2.531	6	1.49%
10	Andrews Kurth LLP	2.351	5	1.38%
	Total	170.446	352
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, all issuers, year to date
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	In house	8.826	27	4.25%
2	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	6.950	6	3.34%
3	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	6.440	10	3.10%
4	Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	5.377	11	2.59%
5	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	5.060	13	2.43%
6	Vinson & Elkins LLP	4.606	16	2.22%
7	Shearman & Sterling LLP	4.567	9	2.20%
8	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	4.453	7	2.14%
9	Baker Botts LLP	2.996	7	1.44%
10	Latham & Watkins LLP	2.958	7	1.42%
	Total	207.864	438
Issuer's counsel, U.S. market, U.S. issuers, year to date
	Issuer's counsel	Amount	No.	Share
1	In house	8.826	27	5.18%
2	Sullivan & Cromwell LLP	6.950	6	4.08%
3	Kirkland & Ellis LLP	6.440	10	3.78%
4	Vinson & Elkins LLP	4.508	15	2.64%
5	Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	4.453	7	2.61%
6	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP	4.362	11	2.56%
7	Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	3.627	8	2.13%
8	Baker Botts LLP	2.996	7	1.76%
9	Latham & Watkins LLP	2.958	7	1.74%
10	Bracewell & Giuliani LLP	2.102	3	1.23%
	Total	170.446	352	`
Prospect News High Yield 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.

• Convertibles, trust preferreds, capital securities and preferred stock are excluded.

• Deals rated investment grade by either Standard & Poor's or Moody's Investors Service are excluded, but deals not rated by both are included.

• 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. For multiple firms, the total value is divided equally.

• Units made up of a bond and a warrant are included; other units are excluded.

• Sovereign issues are excluded.

• Each tranche is counted as a separate deal.

• Passthroughs, collateral trust and equipment trust certificates are included.

• Best efforts and non-underwritten deals are excluded as are remarketings.

© 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.