Deal-breaker DKB is still top deal-maker

Having an uncertain future does not mean you cannot be successful. Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the merchant bank whose future has been threatened by the failure of its parent, Dresdner Bank, to merge with its rival Deutsche, has still come top of an authoritative survey of investment banking.

The Thomson Financial league table of top dealmaker in the City is expected to show that DKB is the top adviser on deals completed and third in deals announced in the first three months of this year.

Currently, DKB is advising Lafarge on its bid for Blue Circle and Thomson Travel on its defence of the bid from C&N Touristic. It recently advised NatWest when it was taken over by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Bankers and traders at DKB face an uncertain few weeks following the failure of the Deutsche/Dresdner deal, which was attributed to a disagreement about what to do with DKB.

Dresdner has received a number of unsolicited bids, including one from Chase, the US bank that is in talks to buy Robert Fleming. The Fleming deal, said to be worth £4.5bn, is due to be announced in the next few days, City sources say.