Goldman is top 2021 fintech, payments underwriter on equity deals

Fintech and payments

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC remained the top underwriter of common stock offerings in the financial technology and payments space in 2021, finishing the year with total deal credit of $2.84 billion on seven transactions.

Barclays Capital Inc. jumped to second place from sixth in 2020, with six offerings and $1.94 billion in deal credit. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC slipped to third place from second in 2020, ending the year with total deal credit of $1.40 billion on two assignments.

BofA Securities Inc. stayed on top of debt offerings in the space in 2021 with $2.68 billion in credit on 25 deals. J.P. Morgan followed closely with $2.46 billion on 22 deals. Wells Fargo Securities LLC ended the year in third place in the category, down from second in 2020.

Goldman Sachs shared the top spot in the IPO category with BofA, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan, Raymond James & Associates Inc., RBC Capital Markets LLC and William Blair & Co. LLC. All of the firms shared equal deal credit on the IPO of payment processor Flywire Corp. in May 2021.

Similarly, for preferred stock offerings in the fintech and payments space, six underwriters shared credit on a single transaction in 2021, that of card issuer American Express Co. in July 2021.

Asset management and investment banks, brokers and capital markets

Goldman Sachs was the top debt offering underwriter in the asset management and investment banks, brokers and capital markets space in 2021, finishing ahead of second-place Morgan Stanley to retain its title from 2020.

Goldman closed 194 offerings in 2021 for $47.92 billion in deal credit. Highlights included The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s senior medium-term notes offerings, worth $700 million and $500 million, in January 2021, and State Street Corp.'s $850 million offering the following month.

Goldman Sachs also led underwriters of common stock offerings in the space, rising from ninth place in 2020 and surpassing the 2020 leader, J.P. Morgan. Goldman's role in State Street's $1.90 billion follow-on equity offering in September 2021 helped push the firm to the top spot.

J.P. Morgan topped the IPO category with deal credit of $1.17 billion, working on two assignments: Robinhood Markets Inc.'s debut in July 2021 and P10 Inc.'s IPO in October 2021. Goldman Sachs, which also underwrote Robinhood's IPO, was a close second, with deal credit of $1.13 billion.

Goldman Sachs retained the top spot as an underwriter of preferred stock offerings, followed by Morgan Stanley, which climbed four notches higher from sixth place in 2020.

Specialty finance and mortgage REIT

BofA was the top underwriter for debt offerings in the specialty finance and mortgage real estate investment trust sectors in 2021, with total deal credit of $9.77 billion. J.P. Morgan slid to second place from first place in the previous year, with a 2021 total of $8.54 billion deal credit from 110 debt offerings. Citigroup held on to the third spot, finishing the year with $6.45 billion deal credit from 133 offerings.

J.P. Morgan amassed the most deal credit on common equity offerings in the space in 2021, up from second place in 2020. BofA moved three notches higher to second place from fifth in 2020.

Citizens Capital Markets Inc. emerged as 2021's top IPO underwriter in the specialty finance and mortgage REIT space, closing two IPOs: the domestic offerings of cannabis lenders AFC Gamma Inc. and Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance Inc. in March 2021 and December 2021, respectively.

For preferred stock offerings, Raymond James rose to the top spot from 15th place in 2020, besting rivals in 2021 with 12 offerings and total deal credit of $1.29 billion. Morgan Stanley came in second with 10 offerings and $902.6 million in deal credit.