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Q-3 & YTD 2019 SPAC IPO Underwriting League Tables

Underwriting-League-Tables

Q-3 & YTD 2019 SPAC IPO Underwriting League Tables

Below are the recently released Q-3 & YTD 2019 SPAC IPO Underwriting League Tables

Methodology:
In addition to the traditional methodology used whereby any bookrunner or lead manager gets full credit for IPO size to calculate deal volume, there are two additional rankings – volume by number of units sold and volume sold % market share (highlighted in green). For example, if SPAC-XYZ raised $500 million at IPO, and underwriter A sold $400 million of the same deal and underwriter B sold only $100 million, that’s how they will be credited.  This methodology gives a more accurate window into the actual deal volume.


Q-3 2019

Ranked by Volume

(All data is sort-able using the arrow keys (?/?) located in the header cells)

RankUnderwriterVolume
($mm)
Volume
% Mkt Share
Volume
Sold
($mm)
Volume
Sold
% Mkt Share
Deal
Count
Average
Deal Size
1Credit Suisse937.916.3%505.517.7%4234.5
2Deutsche Bank926.316.1%387.513.6%3308.8
3Cantor925.016.1%539.818.9%3308.3
4Goldman Sachs764.113.3%350.012.2%2382.1
5Citigroup589.110.2%165.05.8%2294.6
6BTIG460.08.0%275.09.6%2230.0
7Morgan Stanley345.06.0%150.05.2%1345.0
8J.P. Morgan275.04.8%75.02.6%1275.0
9B. Riley FBR253.04.4%220.07.7%1253.0
10Earlybird172.53.0%100.03.5%1172.5
11Maxim57.51.0%50.01.7%157.5
12Chardan44.40.8%40.01.4%144.4

Source: SPACInsider, Ranked by volume

Credit Suisse had a BIG third quarter taking the top spot with four SPACs priced for Total Deal Volume of $907.5 million.   This is in contrast to Q2 of this year, where Credit Suisse had only one deal priced for that quarter.  However, Credit Suisse more than made up for it by being the left lead on Silver Spike ($250M), Oaktree ($201.3M) and SC Health ($172.5), and being one of the three leads on Switchback Energy ($314.1M). Although, Deutsche Bank and Cantor Fitzgerald were not far behind in the rankings with three IPOs each.  Additionally, Deutsche Bank managed to take the number two spot in Total Volume with $926.3 million in underwritings by just edging out Cantor’s $925 million, a difference of only $1.25 million. Very close. However, if we rank by Total Volume Sold, Cantor leads the league with $539.8 million.

Rounding out the top five based on Total Volume are Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, at numbers four and five, respectively.  No surprises here.  Both Goldman and Citigroup priced two SPACs each and on one SPAC (Switchback Energy),both were lead underwriters along with Credit Suisse.

However, there were a few items of note in the Q3 rankings. In particular, the Morgans – J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley.  J.P. Morgan hasn’t made a SPAC appearance since 2017, so now that they’ve resurfaced with Experience Investment Corp, can we expect more from the JPM team going forward? The same could be said of Morgan Stanley, which, until they led Thunder Bridge II in August, hadn’t underwritten a SPAC since they led from the right on last year’s Boxwood Merger Corp.  However, now that Morgan Stanley has hired Bennett Schachter away from Goldman, we should be seeing a lot more from them in the coming quarters.

Lastly, BTIG keeps climbing the rankings ladder with $460 million in underwritings to land in the number six spot (based on Total Volume), just behind Citigroup. However, that notable climb is even more apparent when we look at the Year-to-Date (YTD) tables…..read below.


YTD 2019

Ranked by Volume

(All data is sort-able using the arrow keys located in the header cells)

RankUnderwriterVolume
($mm)
Volume
% Mkt Share
Volume
Sold
($mm)
Volume
Sold
% Mkt Share
Deal
Count
Average
Deal Size
1Cantor2,593.315.3%1,786.120.4%9288.1
2Deutsche Bank2,541.815.0%1,270.014.5%8317.7
3Goldman Sachs2,102.712.4%864.89.9%6350.4
4Credit Suisse1,875.411.1%927.810.6%7267.9
5Citigroup1,529.19.0%960.011.0%4382.3
6BTIG1,140.86.7%468.65.3%5228.2
7Earlybird621.03.7%347.04.0%3207.0
8BofA537.53.2%194.02.2%2268.8
9Stifel530.23.1%111.91.3%2265.1
10Chardan446.92.6%238.12.7%589.4
11B. Riley FBR396.82.3%345.03.9%2198.4
12UBS348.02.1%63.80.7%2174.0
13Morgan Stanley345.02.0%150.01.7%1345.0
14Jefferies316.31.9%275.03.1%1316.3
15Nomura300.21.8%159.51.8%1300.2
16Cowen280.51.7%190.02.2%2140.3
17J.P. Morgan275.01.6%75.00.9%1275.0
18Barclays233.01.4%101.31.2%1233.0
19Northland172.51.0%74.10.8%1172.5
20I-Bankers115.00.7%45.00.5%1115.0
21Craig-Hallum108.00.6%30.00.3%1108.0
22Maxim103.50.6%90.01.0%251.75

Source: SPACInsider, Ranked by volume

Looking at the Year-to-Date (YTD) rankings for 2019, once again, we see Cantor topping the list with nine SPACs priced so far and $2.593 billion in Total Volume.  This represents a significant increase over Cantor’s Full Year 2018 figure of eight SPACs and $1.668 billion in Total Volume, and we’re not even into the fourth quarter yet. There is a real possibility Cantor prices at least three more deals in Q4 and crosses the $3 billion threshold when all is said and done for 2019. However, $3 billion doesn’t even come close to Credit Suisse’s $4.181 billion in Total Volume for 2017 (deal sizes were significantly larger that year).  That’s the high water mark.  But to give you a better idea of where we stood at the end of 2018, Credit Suisse led the league that year with $2.212 billion in Total Volume.

Rounding out the top three for YTD 2019, we see Deutsche Bank in the number two spot with eight IPOs and $2.542 billion in Total Volume., followed by Goldman Sachs in the number three position at six IPOs and $2.103 billion Total Volume. Credit Suisse and Citigroup, as expected, rank four and five, respectively.  This group of five are always consistently at the top of the league tables, so it’s generally unsurprising to see these names, instead, it’s more of a “jockeying” for position to see who lands where in the rankings each quarter. However, it will be interesting to see which of these banks ultimately winds up in the top three to close out 2019.  It’s close enough where the rankings could completely change.

However, we do have a few SPAC underwriters that have been making moves all year.  Notably, BTIG and Stifel. BTIG, which only entered the field in 2018 and ranked 13th last year, is now #6 YTD 2019. Additionally, Stifel, which wasn’t ranked at all in 2018, is currently ranked ninth.  Plus, 2019 has also seen some new players with both Barclays and Nomura lead underwriting SPACs.  And let’s not forget, Morgan Stanley is expected to make their presence known going forward, along with the wild card, Evercore.  No matter where the rankings shake out at the end of 2019, keep your eyes on this group in 2020 as they try to shake up the leader board.

Nonetheless, the current slate of new IPOs is a little weak with just three SPAC currently on file.  However, if rumors are to be believed, October should bring some fresh new filings as the SPAC engine cranks back up.  Underwriters and teams will be pushing out a new crop in the next month or so as they look to IPO their deals before the holiday slow-down.   Regardless, we are just four SPACs away from tying 2018’s deal count of 46 and if all three on file price, we’ll at least hit 45 for 2019.  It should be a very interesting fourth quarter, so let’s see what happens.

You can find all the League Tables by clicking here.