Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

BIG SUPPLY OF DEBT FINDS EAGER BUYERS   Companies in the US and Europe are bypassing bank loans and issuing large amounts of debt, which is being readily purchased by investors seeking higher returns than are available on government securities. ...

MORGAN STANLEY LEADS IN FIRST-QUARTER M&A; Morgan Stanley advised on $219 billion of mergers and acquisitions worldwide in the first quarter of 2009, beating out J.P. Morgan’s $203 billion total to take the lead in Thomson Reuters’ rankings of top ...

CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS HAVE QUIET BIG BANG     The “Big Bang” in the credit default swaps market on April 8 wasn’t exactly the shot heard round the world. While the CDS market underwent major infrastructure changes to standardize the ...

UNSPONSORED ADRS ATTRACT INVESTORS, BOOSTING VOLUME IN OTC SECURITIES Of the more than 1,000 unsponsored American depositary receipt programs created in the wake of last October’s rule change by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a handful are attracting significant ...

GLOBAL EQUITY /DRS       The calendar of planned initial public offerings in the US was bone dry last month, and the only issue of size on the international horizon was a scheduled $1 billion preferred securities offering by ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS     The four-year-old boom in private equity investing reached a feverish pitch this summer as firms awash with cash hurried to put some of it to work in corporate takeovers and billions of dollars more poured ...

CORPORATE DEBT     The first central counterparty clearinghouse for credit default swaps (CDS) began operating on March 9, the same day that perceptions of default risk among the largest derivatives market makers in the over-the-counter market rose to an ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS       The need for bigger drug-development pipelines and more diversified businesses with greater geographic reach is fueling a wave of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry that is providing investment bankers with some much-needed underwriting fees. ...

ICE BEGINS CLEARING CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS AS COUNTERPARTY RISK HITS RECORD HIGH The first central counterparty clearinghouse for credit default swaps (CDS) began operating on March 9, the same day that perceptions of default risk among the largest derivatives market ...

Global Equity /drs Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication, one of three new fixed-line operators in Saudi Arabia, broke the long drought in initial public offerings in the kingdom, with an IPO for 30% of its capital. The $80 million public offering, completed ...

DRUG MERGERS EASE M&A; DROUGHT   The need for bigger drug-development pipelines and more diversified businesses with greater geographic reach is fueling a wave of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry that is providing investment bankers with some much-needed underwriting fees. ...

Equity derivatives   As equity derivatives have taken a pounding in recent months, many of the smaller players have abandoned the market. The industry’s giants are still offering tailored products for their clients, though.   In the months following the ...

Mergers & Acquisitions       The credit crunch has not put an end to major acquisitions by well-run companies that have a compelling strategic plan and a pile of cash. New York-based Pfizer, the world’s biggest drug maker, agreed ...

Corporate Debt       Corporate debt markets in the United States have begun to function more normally, and the money supply is expanding rapidly, showing that the Federal Reserve’s credit-easing policies may be working, analysts say. The Barclays Capital ...

NYSE LISTS CARBON ALLOWANCES FUND     The calendar of planned initial public offerings in the US was bone dry last month, and the only issue of size on the international horizon was a scheduled $1 billion preferred securities offering ...

GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS     Initial public offerings in the United States plunged 86% last year to the lowest level in 31 years, with only one IPO priced in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Thomson Reuters. By comparison, 60 ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS     The volume of worldwide mergers and acquisitions fell 30% last year compared with 2007, but the decline in announced deals would have been even larger without the government bailouts of financial institutions, which represented a ...

CORPORATE DEBT     Government programs designed to thaw the frozen credit markets appeared to be having some effect in early January, opening a window of opportunity for a flood of investment-grade corporate debt issues, but analysts say the credit ...

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS     * Figures may not add up, as more than one bank typically obtains credit for any one transaction.   Merger and acquisition activity in the middle market, which had held up relatively well in the ...

CORPORATE DEBT     A combination of heavy supply and rising defaults makes it difficult to forecast a bottom for the credit markets in 2009, analysts say. The new-issue market in US high-yield bonds remained frozen solid late last year, ...