Banc of America remains top U.S. market convertibles underwriter

• U.S. market convertibles issuance totals $61.83 billion year to date

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Oct. 31 - Banc of America remains the top-ranking U.S. market convertible underwriter for the year so far, accounting for 18.6% of total issuance, with $11.48 billion in 24 deals, as of Oct. 31, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

U.S. convertible issuance totals were virtually unchanged in October as the credit markets remained frozen amid global financial system turmoil.

Issuers brought $61.83 billion of convertibles to market for the year to date through Oct. 31, although there were no reported issues in October. The deal tally was increased slightly from the prior month by the addition of a greenshoe that was exercised, which lifted the year-to-date total from $61.72 billion at the end of September.

Deal issuance year to date lags last year's comparable period by 16.5%. New issuance for the year to October 2007 was $74.06 billion.

In terms of the number of deals, 2008 has seen 106 deals for the year to date, compared to last year's 172 deals for the same period.

Last month the primary market virtually shut down in the aftermath of the Fannie and Freddie government takeover, the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy, the American International Group Inc. bailout, and linkups like Bank of America with Merrill Lynch.

Sources say they don't know when the market will "re-open" for business. Some say new issuance will remain untapped for the rest of the year. But the secondary market has enjoyed somewhat of a thaw this week, with a broader range of names in play and buyers swooping in to scoop up bargains.

Year to date

2007 Comparables

	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
1	Banc of America	11.476	24	18.56%	6	5.941	30	8.02%
2	Citigroup	9.256	22	14.97%	1	11.600	35	15.66%
3	Lehman	8.469	12	13.70%	7	4.923	17	6.65%
4	JPMorgan	8.253	31	13.35%	2	10.892	41	14.71%
5	Goldman Sachs	7.430	22	12.02%	9	4.629	22	6.25%
6	Merrill Lynch	2.901	19	4.69%	5	6.218	27	8.40%
7	UBS	2.786	17	4.51%	10	3.039	19	4.10%
8	Morgan Stanley	2.671	18	4.32%	4	7.944	15	10.73%
9	Wachovia	2.561	6	4.14%	12	0.890	6	1.20%
10	Credit Suisse	2.421	17	3.92%	8	4.717	18	6.37%
	Total	61.825	106	74.062	172
	Average size:	0.583	0.431
October
					2007 Comparables
	Underwriter	Amount	No.	Share	Rank	Amount	No.	Share
	Total	0.000	0	3.652	12
	Average size:	-	0.304
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.

• Structured products issued by an investment bank and exchangeables for or linked to another company's stock 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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