(April 11 – 09:50 ET) – Rough markets mean the death of underwriting right? Well the equities may be suffering, but strong debt markets pushed global underwriting volume up 12% in the first quarter, according to the latest statistics from Thomson Financial.

Global debt, equity and equity-related underwriting grew 12% to $1 trillion in the first quarter of 2001, despite a weak equity market that experienced a steep 47% decline in total proceeds. Fixed income’s 24% increase buoyed the overall underwriting total.

Merrill Lynch captured the top spot in overall global underwriting with a 12.9% market share, up from second place and a 10.6% share last year. Salomon Smith Barney edged up one spot into second with 11.9%. CSFB was a distant third with 9% market share.

Thomson’s data confirms that the IPO market was dead in the first quarter, with just 28 companies in the United States coming to market, the lowest quarterly IPO total since the 1980s. In the same period last year, 166 companies hit the market. Agere Systems (US$3.6 billion) and KPMG Consulting (US$2.3 billion) were the only two multibillion dollar debuts in the quarter. Morgan Stanley, which ran the books on both Agere and KPMG, dominated the IPO league table, logging an 84.4% market share versus a 5.1% share for runner-up Goldman Sachs.

On the fixed-income side, the results were far better. Proceeds in every major asset class increased over 2000. Total U.S. debt volume reached US$642 billion in the first quarter of 2001, a 30% increase. U.S. investment grade debt surged to US$201 billion from last year1s US$112 billion.

Salomon Smith Barney led the way, jumping from sixth place a year ago all the way to first place in 2001, with a 24.3% market share. J.P. Morgan, the second-place finisher, had a 14.6% share. Merrill Lynch was third with 10.7%, up from 7.3% and a seventh place ranking last year.

Global high yield debt revived in the first quarter, totaling US$28.9 billion, up sharply from the $5 billion raised in the last quarter of 2000 and the $22.3 billion in the first quarter of 2000. Salomon copped the top spot in this category with a 20.1% market share, CSFB finished in second place with 13.9%, and Morgan Stanley was a close third with a 12.1% share.