Awards for Excellence 2005
JPMorgan
No other firm is as proficient in structuring innovative, complex convertible issues
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| Viswas Raghavan |
The past 12 months have been very tough for the equity-linked market. In every region except Asia, volumes fell to nearly half what they were the year before. In Asia issuance fell about 25%.
Bumper opportunistic issuance in 2003 meant that there were fewer corporates seeking financing, while the strength of secondary equity markets and a decline in volatility led to a slight worsening of conditions. Other factors, such as changes in both US GAAP and the IFRS accounting standards, also put a damper on equity-linked issuance.
The year was tough for convertible bond investors too. Convertible arbitrage funds turned in some of the worst performance figures of any hedge fund strategy as many aggressively priced transactions fell out of the money. Despite a ravenous hunger for new issues, a healthy fear for losing any more money instilled a discipline on pricing.
"The market is awash with liquidity but participation in deals is very selective," says Viswas Raghavan, head of equity and equity-linked capital markets at JPMorgan, winner of the global award for best equity-linked house.