Salomon Brothers unseated Merrill Lynch as the top lead manager during the second quarter of 1992, with $3.44 billion in issuance, according to preliminary figures compiled by Asset Sales Report. Merrill Lynch had been top underwriter during the first quarter but came in second, with approximately $1.66 billion in ABS business, during the second quarter.
The two dominant underwriters demonstrated their characteristic strengths during the second quarter. Merrill concentrated on its middle-market and commodities-based business and still brought the most deals to market with five reported public issues. Salomon focused on a few large transactions, leading four deals that totaled more than $3.4 billion.
General Motors Acceptance Corp.'s $1.499 billion auto loan-backed deal in late May boosted the underwriters statistics significantly to give the company more than a 32% market share.
First Boston had ranked second last quarter, and again ranked high in terms of number of issues this quarter - bringing four issues to market - but placed fourth in terms of dollar amount, with nearly $1.07 billion reported to date. Auto business still formed a large part of First Boston's core business in the second quarter.
Citibank Securities surpassed that volume as the lead manager of the Class A portion of Citicorp's $1.596 billion issue in June. Citibank co-managed the global offering with UBS Securities.
Joining the ranks of the top managers in the second quarter is Bear Stearns. The company lead managed the Resolution Trust Corp.'s recent issue, as well as Chrysler's last deal in early May.
