Sell-offs of government stakes and equity-linked defensive structures such as convertible bonds kept the Asian equity deal market from plunging off a cliff as markets teetered in the first quarter.
Japan's US$8.1 billion sale of shares in NTT DoCoMo in February was the region's biggest offer by far. The mega-deal helped give bookrunners Nikko Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs more than half the market share for Asian equity deals in the first quarter, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data.
The US$1.2 billion CNOOC offering from China helped the rankings of bookrunners Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of China. Excluding Japan, the three banks each accrued between 14.1 and 14.9 per cent of the market, or 43.8 per cent altogether.
Bank of America made a rare - and top - appearance in the rankings after running the US$1.02 billion convertible bond for Singapore outsourcing electronics group Flextronics.
In the region excluding Japan, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were notable for falling in the rankings.
BNP had marched to the No 2 spot in Thomson's equity deal tallies in the first quarter of last year. The ranking was largely thanks to its role last year in Hong Kong's short-lived technology boom. It's biggest client was Pacific Century CyberWorks.