Global equity capital markets underwriting activity is up 17% through the first nine months of the year, while debt market activity is off by 3%, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters.
The firm reports that equity issuance to date totals US$532.4 billion, which is the strongest result for this period since 2009. However, in the third quarter, equity issuance came in at US$144.6 billion, down 27% from the second quarter of this year.
Initial public offering (IPO) activity during the first nine months of 2013 reached US$91.6 billion, which is up 11% from last year, the firm reports. Although, again, IPO activity in the third quarter was down (off by 45%) compared to the second quarter. Emerging market issuers accounted for 35% of IPO volume during the period, it says.
Thomson Reuters reports that global follow-on offerings total US$379.3 billion so far this year, which is up 15% year over year. The financial sector accounts for almost 20% of this, raising $71.5 billion during the first nine months.
Indeed, financial issuers account for 19% of the overall volume, which remains highly concentrated among four main sectors. Along with financials, real estate (15%), energy and power (13%) and industrials (12%) account for almost 60% of total activity.
The firm says that, according to estimates from Freeman Consulting, underwriting fees from equity transactions total US$11.9 billion so far this year, which is a 21% increase from last year. And, Goldman Sachs ranks as the top underwriter, with US$59.1 billion in proceeds from 273 issues, it reports. Goldman ranked first in both global IPOs and global common stock offerings. JP Morgan topped the list of global convertible underwriters, with 12.3% market share, Thomson Reuters says.
On the debt side, overall global underwriting activity totalled US$4.2 trillion during the first nine months of 2013, the firm reports. This is down 3% from the same period in 2012; and third quarter global debt activity decreased 13% compared to the second quarter, it says.
Notwithstanding the overall stagnation in debt underwriting, Thomson Reuters reports that the volume of global high yield corporate debt reached record levels. It says that US$350.2 billion was issued during the first nine months of 2013, a 27% increase compared to the first nine months of 2012, which is the strongest first three quarters for high yield debt activity since records began in 1980.
Issuance of asset-backed securities is also up by 7% year over year, and issuance of collateralized debt and loan obligations was more than double the volume in the first nine months of 2012, it adds.
The financial sector also leads the way in debt issuance, accounting for 46% of all new issues this year, the firm reports. The telecom and high tech sectors also saw strong year-over-year growth, it adds.
And, despite the slide in overall issuance, Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting estimates that fees from debt underwriting activity actually rose by 3% year over year to US$16.9 billion during the first nine months of 2013. JP Morgan ranked first, with total proceeds of $326.5 billion, followed by Deutsche Bank.