And 2009 is unlikely to be much better, with a host of delistings forecast.

Until about a decade ago, the sponsor space was dominated by stockbroking firms and their function was that of "sponsoring broker". But that has all changed in recent years and stockbroking firms now comprise only a small percentage of sponsor activity. Only BJM and Macquarie are left among sponsors that can be considered to be stockbrokers. BJM has been active in the sponsor arena for some time. It has 19 sponsorships, including relative blue chips such as Spar and Truworths.

The number of independent sponsors - companies that specialise in sponsor and corporate finance work - has risen considerably in recent years. Of the 36 sponsor firms, more than a third are independents. Admittedly, most of the companies to which they are sponsors are small and medium capitalisation stocks. However, this doesn't detract from the fact that these sponsor firms are highly specialised professional outfits.

Among the local banks, Absa is notably absent from the sponsorship arena. Investec has the largest number of sponsorships (32), followed by RMB with 28. Nedbank Capital has 14, while Standard Bank has eight. Niche banking operation Sasfin has 17 sponsorships, while Grindrod Bank has three.

The international firms, mainly multinational investment banks, are able to offer SA's large market capitalisation stocks the benefit of their global reach. This is especially important when it comes to companies that have listings outside of SA, such as the London dual-listed stocks (BHP Billiton, SABMiller, Old Mutual, Dimension Data, Anglo American and Investec) as well as Sasol (NYSE) and many of the resources stocks that have US and/or European listings.

JP Morgan, via JP Morgan Cazenove (UK) and JP Morgan Equities Ltd, has the sponsorship of the top two SA Giants - BHP Billiton and SABMiller. It also sponsors other notable JSE-listed stocks such as Barloworld, Dimension Data, Aveng, Gold Fields and Tiger Brands among others. In total, it sponsors 15 companies.

UBS has always sponsored a select group of large cap stocks, including Anglo American (third in SA Giants), Telkom, Sappi, AngloGold, Nampak, Mondi, Liberty International, Foschini and Lewis. In Dealmakers magazine, UBS was ranked first among sponsors in the general corporate finance category, based on transaction value in 2008, with a total announced transaction value of R583bn. This was about a third of total announced transactions last year.

Deutsche Securities is sponsor to 14 companies, including Sasol, which was fourth in SA Giants. Sasol must have provided Deutsche with lots of corporate work in 2008, both from a sponsor and corporate finance perspective, as it was involved in a lot of corporate activity. Apart from the broad-based BEE deal, Sasol was also caught up in a price-fixing scandal in Germany that ended with the company being fined €318,2m. Apart from Sasol, Deutsche also sponsors Sanlam, Standard Bank, Massmart, Implats, ArcelorMittal, Murray & Roberts and ARM, among others.

Merrill Lynch has 15 sponsorships, most of which are large capitalisation stocks. Merrill itself was caught up in some very unpleasant corporate activity last year in the wake of the subprime debacle. It was saved from bankruptcy by being bought out by Bank of America. Given BoA's rather parochial image, coupled with its need to sell assets to comply with the recent US banking "stress tests", it will be interesting to note where Merrill Lynch features in this survey next year.

Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have only one sponsorship each.

The independent firms have made the greatest impact on the sponsor arena in recent years, at least from a volume, if not value, perspective. Java has the largest number of sponsorships by far - 16 - and was ranked first in terms of Dealmakers' sponsors by volume last year. Bridge Capital comes in second with nine sponsorships, while Arcay Moela, Merchant and Vunani all share the third spot with six apiece.

2009 will likely be tough, but an improvement should be noticed from 2010 as markets stabilise. For those that survive this rough patch, the future rewards could be good.