Jul. 1, 2009 (The Hindu Business Line) --

BL Research Bureau

Domestic equity and rights offerings fell 64 per cent in value over the same period of last year. Syndicated block deals from companies such as Suzlon and DLF, in which promoters sold a chunk of their stakes to institutions, made up 57 per cent of the amount raised from equities. Qualified institutional placements were the next preferred route for equity fund raising, accounting for 38 per cent of the sum raised. As rights offers plunged sharply over the same period last year, only two IPOs hit the market in the first half. Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) , Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) , Citigroup (NYSE:C) and JP Morgan were the top investment bankers in equity, involved in 80 per cent of the offerings.

While equity offers were few and far between, debt issuances rose dramatically. Domestic bond offerings, in contrast, were up 65.8 per cent from the first half of last year with 152 securities being issued. For the June quarter, debt offerings raised nearly 95 per cent more than they did in the same period last year. Average offer sizes were larger this year than in 2008. Axis Bank, Standard Chartered, HSBC (NYSE:HBC) and ICICI Sec PD were the top arrangers of debt offers in the first half, notes Bloomberg.