Schroders takes first place in merger league

SCHRODERS has stolen Lazard Brothers' mantle of number one UK mergers and acquisitions adviser, according to a new survey.

Despite the numerous stalled mergers at the beginning of this year, the first three months of 1998 have been a record period for UK corporate activity.

These are the key findings of the latest Acquisitions Monthly survey of UK merger and acquisition activity, which also estimated City advisers lost pounds 400m when the pounds 43bn merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, the pharmaceutical giants, fell apart earlier this year.

Morgan Stanley and Lazard Brothers, Glaxo and SmithKline's financial advisers, did not come away from the deal empty handed.

Philip Healey, editor of Acquisitions Monthly, said: "Advisers working on the failed deal will still have picked up around pounds 20m in fees, while those involved with the lapsed Reed Elsevier merger with Wolters Kluwer took home an estimated pounds 15m."

Between January and March of this year, Acquisitions Monthly recorded 438 UK transactions with a total value of pounds 16.2bn. During the same period last year, 319 transactions were recorded with a total value of pounds 10.7bn.

Schroders advised on six of the 41 UK public takeovers, with a combined value of pounds 4.3bn. It was also involved in the largest UK public takeover so far this year - that of Allied Colloids by Ciba of Switzerland.