league tables

H-P deal pushes JPMorgan to top of table

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

After the Microsoft-Yahoo nondeal rewrote the league tables for the year, here comes another big technology deal with big implications for the standings. The New York Times notes that JPMorgan Chase, by dint of its role in advising Hewlett-Packard in its $13.3 billion takeover of EDS, has inched to the top of the table. It edged out Goldman Sachs, which might have stayed on top if its client had Yahoo ended up in a deal. Don't be surprised if Goldman ends up back on top. One big deal would do the trick. Still, this is rare air for JPMorgan and yet another feather in the cap of Jamie Dimon. Hewlett also retained Lehman Brothers, while Electronic Data hired Citigroup and Evercore Partners, the Times notes.

For more:
- here's the article from the New York Times

Microsoft-Yahoo deal implosion reorders league tables

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Microsoft's decision to walk away from a much-hoped-for Yahoo deal definitely will have an impact on the league tables, Financial News Online notes. Microsoft had retained Morgan Stanley and the Blackstone Group. Now, Morgan Stanley falls a notch to eighth place. The Blackstone Group tumbles all the way to 35th place from 10th. As for Yahoo's bankers, Goldman Sachs retained its place at the top of the rankings, while Lehman Brothers fell from third to sixth. You've got to wonder if another deal will arise--and sooner than expected. Yahoo's shares tanked. Management is under immediate pressure to come up with a winning long-term plan. This may not be over.

For more:
- here's the article
- more thoughts on the bankers at Seeking Alpha

New perspective on the securities biz

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

So just how profound is the ongoing slump in real estate-related securities business? Well, new deal volumes have tumbled to 10-year lows, the Financial Times reports. In some cases, business is so paltry that there isn't enough volume to fill out a league table. Consider CDOs. Just six banks managed to field an offering. CDO sales were $6.4 billion, compared with $103.6 billion a year before, and things don't look to be getting better anytime soon. The article suggests that some bankers in this area were kept to get through the crisis; they likely will be let go now. That business is not coming back soon.

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
The future of CDOs? Article
CDOs continue to lag. Article
Something wrong with CDO models? Article

Morgan Stanley advising unsolicited bids

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:59:58 -0500

The Bear Hug is back, thanks in large part to Morgan Stanley. The New York Times notes three instances of unsolicited bids. Microsoft's $45 billion offer for Yahoo, Electronic Arts' $2 billion bid for Take-Two Interactive and most recently, United Technologies' $3 billion offer for Diebold. The bidders in all cases are being advised by Morgan Stanley, which has put the company on top of the league tables this year. Unlike most unsolicited bids, Morgan-advised bids have fared well over the years. Since 2003, the Times reports, all Morgan-advised, unsolicited bids have ended in friendly deals. No proxy wars and no hostile bids. Will Microsoft keep that string alive?

For more:
- here's the New York Times item

Related Article:
Microsoft-Yahoo: Investment bank bonanza. Article

Microsoft-Yahoo: Investment bank bonanza

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Who will emerge the winners in Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo? Morgan Stanley's looking good. It apparently has won a lead advisory role with Microsoft. But Mr. Softie is also being co-advised by none other than the Blackstone Group. Most people are likely unaware that Blackstone even has an advisory unit. So this is the kind of deal, providing it goes well, that could really put it on the map, if not in the league tables. The Yahoo side is also interesting. Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers are apparently the top advisors. This is a time-honored role for good-guy Goldman Sachs. They tried to broker a deal between the two players a while back. The twist is that back then the firm was working for Microsoft.

For more:
- here's the Financial News Online article

Surprise. The top merger advisor really is...

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:59:57 -0400

We noted recently that when it comes to financial sponsor-backed IPOs, the choice of underwriter seems to be significant in terms of performance. UBS, somewhat surprisingly, fared the best. Now, The New York Times takes a look at whether advisors matter when it comes to strategic deals. It commissioned a study to look at the returns of companies that made acquisitions in 2002-2005. Surprisingly, neither Goldman Sachs nor Morgan Stanley racked up the biggest gains, despite their dominance in the league tables. The winner was another surprise, Deutsche Bank, whose clients outperformed their sector competitors by nearly 30 percent vs. 6 percent for Goldman Sachs. It may be that Deutsche Bank has had significantly fewer deals--no one really thinks of it as an investment banking powerhouse--such that a few winners can really swing performance. In any case, it is something that competitors of the big two can make hay with in the market.

For more:
- here's the article from the NYT

Is this the high water mark for deals?

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:01:37 -0400

We've noted the torrid pace of deals so far this year. A simple way to look at it: The value of announced deals worldwide rose to $2.88 trillion in the first half of 2007, up 55 percent from a year ago, according to Deallogic. The source of the surge--obviously--was financial sponsor-driven deals, which more than doubled. The league tables? The predictable names. Goldman Sachs ranked as the top advisor, working on 229 deals worth about $830 billion. It generated $1.2 billion in fees. The whole industry generated about $11.2 billion in fees. Citigroup soared to No. 2, continuing a stellar run that has drawn notice. (See the next item). Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers followed. The question remains: Can it last? We'll have to see where rates trend and how the markets react. Most assume the industry is in for a gut check.

For more:
- here's a MarketWatch article

Bank of America grows its investment banking

Wed, 16 May 2007 20:01:34 -0400

No one sees Bank of America as an investment banking power. The Rorschach quick association is with retail banker, and we've been following its so-far thwarted attempts to buy LaSalle from ABN Amro. But Financial News Online notes that the big North Carolina bank has designs on investment banking. In fact, the bank has set an audacious goal: It wants a top-three ranking in the U.S. That will be exceedingly hard to achieve. But there has been progress. Gene Taylor, in Charlotte, tapped ex-Morgan Stanley exec Brian Brille to run investment banking slowly--the two ended the investment vs. commercial bankers rift and lifted ambitions. As of now, it is No. 10 in the investment banking league tables, by one measure. So it has a ways to go, but it is a presence.

For more:
- here's the article Financial News Online

What's up at Wachovia's investment banking unit?

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:01:37 -0500

Wachovia isn't exactly known as a Wall Street power, but it is a top-five player in certain areas, such as real estate, CMBS and CDO underwriting. It ranks high also in the underwriting league tables for many other categories. So you have to wonder what the bank's intention's are. Does it intend to move to compete with the likes of Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan? Wachovia seemed to take a few big steps in that direction in mid-2005 when it inked a deal to lease four floors in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in New York and announced a string of high-profile hires from competitors like Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan. Now people are wondering--some sense that perhaps the bank is scaling back its ambitions. The scaling back has stoked talk about whether some high-profile hires will jump ship.

For more:
- here's an article from Investment Dealers' Digest (For FierceFinance readers)

People still talking about the Goldman Sachs earnings

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:01:36 -0500

Since Goldman Sachs released its stellar earnings, the stock has traded sideways. You could argue that there is always a sell-on-the-news impulse, but at least one analyst is exploring the earnings in a bit more depth. Some think there was "softness" in investment banking. While Goldman again ruled the league tables and revenue rose 42 percent on an annual basis, it rose only 4 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis. The other arguable soft spot was asset management. Revenue rose 16 percent annually, but slipped a bit from the previous quarter. Also, the company's VAR inched up 7 percent after a decline the previous quarter. All that points to the issue of proprietary activity. This looks to be the key every quarter going forward. So while the stock may rise, one would not be surprised if the multiple remained flat to down.

For more:
- here's an analysis by Indie Research
- Read this for more on the earnings.