2003 Annual Report: Raising the Bar for Large Companies and Institutions (Page 1 of 3)

Long recognized as a leader in the corporate debt markets, Banc of America Securities (BAS) ramped up its efforts in 2003 to become a major player in equity underwriting and merger and acquisition advice.

Listening to what our clients said they wanted from us, we improved our integrated corporate and investment banking platform, realigned and upgraded our talent and increased our focus on industry specialization.

Our corporate clients rewarded our efforts by trusting us to manage several of the most significant deals on Wall Street in 2003, including the largest initial public offering, the second- largest convertible deal and two of the largest announced mergers, both in the health care arena. In another intricate and successful transaction that called on BAS's full-range of capabilities, we advised a client on an acquisition strategy, arranged additional financial investors, then managed two rounds of financing necessary to complete the transaction.

Overall, BAS delivered more than $300 billion in equity, debt, and merger and acquisition solutions for our clients in 2003, which was a record for the bank. Through this activity, securities underwriting revenues at BAS increased during the year by 34%, to $963 million. And investment banking revenue overall, a figure that includes underwriting and mergers and acquisitions advisory fees, gained 13%, to $1.67 billion.