Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, only five deals came to market raising just €2 billion; in the US, the number fell from 61 to 35; and in Asia ex-Japan the number of deals slipped to their lowest since the first quarter of 2003.
The $4 billion-worth of issuance in Asia, however, matched that of the first quarter of 2007, which turned out to be a record year for equity-linked issuance from the region.
Volume in the US also held up much better than the fall in the number of deals suggests thanks to...
