City cash calls dominate EU
EQUITY issues in the UK have accounted for 46 per cent of the total issuance in Europe this year so far.
The City scramble to raise capital meant giant offerings from HSBC, Rio Tinto and Lloyds Banking Group.
Thomson Reuters data shows that of the $129.5bn (£78.8bn) of equity capital market activity seen in Europe this year, $59.6bn came from London.
This included the £12.5bn rights issue by HSBC – the largest ever in the UK – that concluded in April.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Cazenove were the main underwriters, along with BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and RBS Hoare Govett.
The £9.3bn issue by miner Rio Tinto was underwritten by Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Cazenove, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie, RBS Hoare Govett and Société Générale.
And the heavily-discounted £4bn rights issue by Lloyds Banking Group in May also boosted the City’s equity total – that fully-subscribed issue was underwritten by the UK government.
JPMorgan is the top European underwriter this year so far, bookrunning 23.2 per cent of the market. Earlier this month the bank unveiled a stellar $7.3bn investment banking turnover in its second-quarter results.