Bank of America gets top fees in $10 billion M&A double

LONDON: Bank of America Merrill Lynch stands to earn the lion's share of a fee pot worth around $100 million as the only bank to win a role related to both multi-billion dollar bids for Swiss companies Roche and ABB.

The firm would collect $25-$33 million for advising engineering group ABB if a $3.9 billion friendly deal with US electrical components maker Thomas & Betts goes ahead, according to estimates from Thomsonreuters / Freeman Consulting.

Bett's adviser Deutsche Bank would earn $30-$35 million in the event of a deal.

Bank of America would also share between $37 million and $42 million with Goldman Sachs if it successfully defends its client Illumina against a $5.7 billion hostile bid from Swiss drug maker Roche.

Citigroup and Greenhill would share $30 to $35 million as advisers to Roche if the bid succeeded.

Bankers said both deals represented positive momentum after a dismal year for dealmaking.

"Companies know what they want to do. Now things are settling, more of them will react while valuations are attractive," said one senior European banker.

"This could lead to an improvement over the fourth quarter." Global mergers and acquisitions declined dramatically in the second half, with dealmaking in the fourth quarter falling 31 percent from the previous three months to $398 billion.

It was the third consecutive quarterly decline and the lowest quarter overall since the third quarter of 2004.

Source: EconomicTimes