Gold for Goldman

Goldman Sachs JBWere has leapfrogged from number eight to the top spot in the equity capital market (ECM) tables for the first half of the year, relegating perennial table leaders UBS and Macquarie to the minor placings.

Data for the six months to June 30 released by Thomson Reuters credits Goldman Sachs with the No. 1 position for equity and equity related issues, common stock (share) offerings, and fee take.

Goldman Sachs' drive up the league table comes in an otherwise miserable year for the equity capital markets, where the severe volatility has knocked overall issuance down by nearly half, from $29 billion to $17 billion, and the fee take has gone down accordingly. IPO issuance is down by 70 per cent.

It is the first time the since the merger of Goldman Sachs and JBWere in 2002 that the group has headed the Australian ECM league tables, which have been notable and unique in major financial markets in recent years because of the longtime domination of Macquarie and UBS.

Mike Everett, co-head of financing group at Goldman Sachs JBWere, credits the jump with the creation last year of the financing group, which pulls together its equity and debt market capabilities.

Typical of this were the mandates Goldman Sachs JBWere received for the $2.6 billion rights issue by Wesfarmers and its $US650 million bond issue in the US.

"The creation of the financing group has enabled us to be fast on our feet. If our clients have needed to switch in midstream because of market conditions, we've been able to do so,” Everett said.

"We've seen a 20 per cent share for each of UBS and Macquarie over the last five years, and now we're seeing a bunching of the pack at the top.”

Goldman Sachs JBWere was also the top mover in international bond mandates, jumping from 27th to 3rd behind Citi and Barclays.

The other big movers in the ECM tables for the first half were Deutsche Bank (up from 9th to 5th), Merrill Lynch (10th to 7th) and the Perth-based mining specialist Euroz Securities (17th to 10th).

UBS, Macquarie and JP Morgan all find themselves bumped down one place to 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. RBS slips from 5th to 6th, Citi slides from 4th to 8th and Credit Suisse eases from 7th to 9th.

As for the fee take, Goldman Sachs leads the table with an estimated $US58 million for the first 6 months, ahead of UBS with $US42 million.

JP Morgan is credited with pipped Macquarie to take third place on the fee take, with $US29.3 million vs $US28.3 million, and they are followed by Deutsche, Merrills, RBS, Citi and Credit Suisse. BBY sneaks into 10th place with an estimated fee take of $US7.1 million from the ECM market in the first half.

Meanwhile, the debt capital markets (DCM) have experienced their poorest first half in five years, according to Thomson Reuters, with a total of $20.1 billion raised from 65 transactions, compared to $51.3 billion raised from 98 issues in the first half of 2007.

There has been a major reshuffle in the league table rankings too, with RBC Capital Markets jumping from 9th to top spot, TD Securities from 14th to 2nd and NAB from 8th to 3rd. They are followed by CBA, which slips from its previous top ranking, UBS (up from 13th), RBS (down from 3rd) and Westpac (down from 2nd). They are followed by Macquarie, Citi and JP Morgan.