SAN DIEGO, April 19, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sagient Research Systems (OTCBB:SRYS), a leading publisher of independent research for the financial services and institutional investment communities, today announced that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. ranked as the No. 1 investment bank in the PIPE market in the first quarter 2005 for total dollars raised and that Rodman & Renshaw LLC ranked as the No. 1 investment bank in the PIPE market in for total number of transactions. LH Financial Services topped the list of most active institutional investors during the first quarter 2005.
PlacementTracker, a flagship product of Sagient Research Systems, is well recognized as the leading provider of research, data, and analytics covering the PIPE market.
Commenting on the League Tables, Robert F. Kyle, executive vice president of Sagient Research said, "The first quarter of 2005 was another robust period for PIPE market activity. During the quarter we recorded 322 transactions totaling $6.03 billion in equity and equity-linked capital raised (excluding Structured Equity Lines and Canadian domiciled issuers). While the transaction count was down 20% from the first quarter of 2004, the total amount raised increased 20% over the first quarter of 2004. We can attribute this dichotomy to a number of large PIPE deals that closed in the first quarter. We believe that these large PIPE transactions indicate a growing trend of larger public companies accepting the PIPE market as a viable source of capital. As always, we congratulate all of the active agents and investors in the PIPE market for a tremendous first quarter, especially those leaders who topped the League Tables. Many of these firms are long-time clients of PlacementTracker, and we look forward to continuing to provide them with industry leading data, research, and analytics to help keep them on top of this market."
Mr. Kyle added, "PlacementTracker has recently been made aware that a certain PIPE market participant has issued a press release claiming a certain ranking in our League Table. Such release was issued without PlacementTracker's prior knowledge or consent. It was also issued prior to our completion of the official quarterly PIPE Market League Tables and, therefore, contains information that we believe is misleading. We advise all PIPE market participants and other interested parties to refer only to our quarterly press releases for PlacementTracker's official PIPE Market League Tables."
PlacementTracker's dynamically updating League Tables are available online at: http://www.sagientresearch.com/pt/leaguetables.cfm.
The Q1 2005 PIPE Market Investment Banking League Table
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By Dollar Amount Raised:
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Placement Agent Name Transaction Count Total Amount Raised
-------------------- ----------------- -------------------
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 3 $ 171,637,499
Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. 4 $ 133,802,508
Rodman & Renshaw, LLC 9 $ 127,933,334
Cantor Fitzgerald & Company 1 $ 123,879,000
Hibernia Southcoast Capital 1 $ 123,879,000
SG Cowen & Co., LLC 5 $ 96,048,848
Roth Capital Partners, LLC 6 $ 95,959,991
Sanders Morris Harris, Inc. 2 $ 92,625,000
Credit Suisse First Boston
Corp. 1 $ 91,000,000
Jefferies & Co., Inc. 1 $ 87,802,500
C.E. Unterberg, Towbin 4 $ 79,222,000
RBC Capital Markets, Inc. 3 $ 78,904,416
Cascadia Capital 1 $ 64,999,992
CIBC World Markets 2 $ 64,000,000
Needham & Company, Inc. 2 $ 60,000,002
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC 2 $ 56,600,000
Leerink Swann & Co. 2 $ 56,425,000
Harris Nesbitt Corp. 2 $ 52,992,187
Lehman Brothers, Inc. 1 $ 52,185,000
UBS Investment Bank 1 $ 52,185,000
Stephens, Inc. 1 $ 42,625,000
WR Hambrecht + Co., LLC 1 $ 40,500,000
Intermarket Management LLC 1 $ 40,500,000
Southwest Securities, Inc. 1 $ 40,500,000
Piper Jaffray & Co. 1 $ 40,000,000
Investment Banking rankings exclude all Equity Line of Credit
transactions and all PIPE transactions conducted by Canadian
domiciled issuers. On transactions where an investment banking
firm has acted solely as Financial Advisor, that transaction has
been excluded from that firm's ranking. Co-agented transactions
award full transaction credit to all agents participating
(regardless of status of lead agent or co-agent). Data is as
reported as of 4/18/05.
The Q1 2005 PIPE Market Investment Banking League Table
-------------------------------------------------------
By Number of Transactions:
--------------------------
Placement Agent Name Transaction Count Total Amount Raised
-------------------- ----------------- -------------------
Rodman & Renshaw, LLC 9 $ 127,933,334
Roth Capital Partners, LLC 6 $ 95,959,991
SG Cowen & Co., LLC 5 $ 96,048,848
Griffin Securities, Inc. 5 $ 33,096,794
Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. 4 $ 133,802,508
C.E. Unterberg, Towbin 4 $ 79,222,000
Duncan Capital, LLC 4 $ 17,950,000
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 3 $ 171,637,499
RBC Capital Markets, Inc. 3 $ 78,904,416
Midtown Partners & Co., LLC 3 $ 30,996,428
Maxim Group, LLC 3 $ 27,700,061
HPC Capital Management 3 $ 26,094,392
Stonegate Securities, Inc. 3 $ 22,970,000
H.C. Wainwright & Co. Inc. 3 $ 13,825,000
Laidlaw & Company, Ltd. 3 $ 8,050,000
Source Capital Group 3 $ 7,500,000
Westor OnLine, Inc. 3 $ 3,859,500
Sanders Morris Harris, Inc. 2 $ 92,625,000
CIBC World Markets 2 $ 64,000,000
Needham & Company, Inc. 2 $ 60,000,002
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC 2 $ 56,600,000
Leerink Swann & Co. 2 $ 56,425,000
Harris Nesbitt Corp. 2 $ 52,992,187
Punk, Ziegel & Company 2 $ 35,489,997
Legend Merchant Group, Inc. 2 $ 33,405,097
Investment Banking rankings exclude all Equity Line of Credit
transactions and all PIPE transactions conducted by Canadian
domiciled issuers. On transactions where an investment banking
firm has acted solely as Financial Advisor, that transaction has
been excluded from that firm's ranking. Co-agented transactions
award full transaction credit to all agents participating
(regardless of status of lead agent or co-agent). Data is as
reported as of 4/18/05.
The Q1 2005 PIPE Market Institutional Investor League Table
-----------------------------------------------------------
By Number of Transactions:
--------------------------
Investor Name Transaction Count Total Amount Invested
------------- ----------------- ---------------------
LH Financial Services
Corporation 19 $ 7,901,422
Atoll Asset Management,
LLC 18 $ 20,246,718
Highbridge International,
LLC 17 $ 63,647,848
Laurus Family of Funds 17 $ 52,050,000
Vertical Ventures
Investments, LLC 17 $ 20,014,848
Titan Capital Management 17 $ 2,941,700
Omicron Capital, L.P. 15 $ 10,192,856
Downsview Capital, Inc. 14 $ 9,949,860
Canaccord Capital
Corporation 14 $ 4,975,000
Staro Asset Management, LLC 13 $ 22,880,276
Ramius Capital Group, LLC 13 $ 17,275,352
Nite Capital Management,
LLC 13 $ 3,915,004
GreenLight (Switzerland) SA 12 $ 5,716,080
Basso Capital Management,
L.P. 11 $ 10,119,483
DKR Management Company, Inc. 10 $ 6,323,064
Andrew Carter Capital, Inc. 10 $ 4,374,003
Enable Growth Partners, L.P. 10 $ 2,898,500
JGB Capital Management, Inc. 9 $ 9,240,002
Bristol Capital Advisors,
LLC 9 $ 4,323,134
NIR Group, LLC 8 $ 13,450,000
Bluegrass Growth Fund
Partners, LLC 8 $ 3,288,952
Kingsport Capital Partners,
LLC 7 $ 14,771,250
Heights Capital Management,
Inc. 7 $ 8,786,274
Alexandra Investment
Management 6 $ 20,635,000
Gryphon Partners, L.P. 6 $ 9,111,797
Investor rankings exclude all Equity Line of Credit transactions and
all PIPE transactions conducted by Canadian domiciled issuers.
Investors classified as Corporate Investors and Insurance Companies
have been excluded from this ranking. Data is as reported as of
4/18/05.
About Sagient Research Systems
Sagient Research Systems is a publisher of independent research. We develop, produce, and sell proprietary research products to mutual funds, hedge funds, and investment banks. Our business strategy is to continue to leverage our development, technology, and marketing expertise to solidify our position as a leading provider of independent research to the financial services and institutional investment communities. For more information, please visit the Sagient Research Systems website at www.sagientresearch.com.
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