Large, cross-border takeovers such as Bank of Montreal’s U.S. expansion and the bidding war for Kansas City Southern Railway Co. gave central roles to New York-based dealers such as Morgan Stanley & Co.Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan advised BNP Paribas SA
Global investment banks were also centre stage in large domestic takeovers, territory where they compete directly with Canadian dealers. BofA and Barclays worked with Rogers Communications Inc., while Barclays and J.P.
As a rule, an investment bank’s fee on a large M&A transaction ranges from 1 per cent to 3 per cent of the value of the deal. The fee percentage rises as deals get smaller. Based on that scale, companies will pay a minimum of US$3.25-billion in M&A fees to financial advisers this year; in reality, the total is far higher.
In investment banking circles, a company’s potential to pay fees is known as its “wallet.” Canada is home to a number of businesses that are said to have big wallets, because they do large transactions on a regular basis, including Brookfield Asset Management Inc.and institutional investors such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Global dealers have offices in Toronto, and often in Montreal and Calgary, where bankers spend their days covering these clients.