The total value of equity and equity-related transactions in Japan for the January-September period fell 41.7 pct year-on-year to 28.7 bln usd, said US database company Thomson Financial. This was partly because the figure for such deals a year earlier had been boosted by a large number of IPOs involving privatization and also a fall in the number of convertible bond issues, a company official said. Nomura Holdings, Japan's largest brokerage house, was the top bookrunner in these transactions during the nine months, for the third straight time, the research firm said.