April 1, 2008 For Immediate Release mergermarket league tables of fi nancial advisers to global M&A for Q1 2008 Contacts: Mergers and acquisitions experienced something of a ‘death rattle’ in the fi rst quarter of 2008 as large transac- tions in the commodities sector - typically the last sector to fall in a general cyclical downturn - comprised 40% Europe of all announced global deals in the fi rst quarter of 2008. In fact, if the USD 211bn bid for Rio Tinto by BHP Hannah Bagshawe Billiton is stripped out, as well as the Philip Morris demerger, Europe saw its slowest quarter by value since Q3 [email protected] 2004. The US M&A market saw its slowest quarter since Q3 2003, with the complete absence of any major Tel: +44 20 7059 6118 head turning deal announcement so far*. North America And with the wholesale deleveraging taking place in the global fi nancial services sector, it should come as Karishma Thakkar no surprise that no debt was available to put even a single buyout on the list of the top 10 of global deals this [email protected] past quarter. By contrast, no less than seven of the top 10 deals announced in the fi rst half of 2007 comprised Tel: +1 212 686 6305 LBOs. Meanwhile, the fi nancial services sector, which had consistently been the hottest single sector for M&A in recent years, made up just 12% of all M&A activity by value. Asia-Pacifi c Seye Im But it is always darkest before the dawn. Brokers in the US are widely forecasting that the equity markets have [email protected] hit a bottom, or are very close to it. This opens the door for large consolidation plays in key sectors on the part Tel: +852 2158 9706 of companies in the US and overseas. The US dollar’s precipitous fall is looking increasingly long in the tooth, and overseas companies are likely to be readying plans to snap up undervalued US targets in sectors like healthcare and technology once they see it has stabilised. Table of Contents: The league tables refl ect the absence of mainstream M&A, with the usual suspects Morgan Stanley and JP- Morgan slipping down from their usual pre-eminent positions. Similarly Citigroup and Lehman Brothers, two Global League Tables and Data 2-4 fi rms closely associated with the LBO industry, are also seeing lower M&A profi les in the year to date. Credit European League Tables and Data 5-21 Suisse, Deutsche Bank, UBS and HSBC as well as Australian advisory fi rms Macquarie and Gresham Advisory North American Tables and Data 22-32 Partners have all seen their league table profi les boosted because of their roles on large deals in the commodi- Asia-Pacifi c League Tables and Data 33-40 ties sector. More ominously, the US M&A volume league tables for the fi rst quarter have seen the emergence of Global M&A Breakdown 41 advisory houses often associated with restructuring work, such as Houlihan & Lokey and Jefferies & Co. Criteria 42 About mergermarket 43 *note that the Microsoft-Yahoo ‘bear hug’ has not been included in our data because it remains a non-binding proposal mergermarket M&A league tables of fi nancial advisers - First Quarter 2008 - April 1, 2008 Page 1 Global League Table of Financial Advisers to Global M&A: Value League Table of Financial Advisers to Global M&A: Volume Value No of Value No of Y/E 2007 Q1 2008 Company Name (USDm) Deals Y/E 2007 Q1 2008 Company Name (USDm) Deals 1 1 Goldman Sachs 379,751 51 4 1 UBS 291,264 62 8 2 Credit Suisse 379,715 42 1 2 KPMG Corp Fin 7,944 61 9 3 Deutsche Bank 378,564 36 2 3 Citigroup 365,390 57 3 4 Citigroup 365,390 57 3 4 Goldman Sachs 379,751 51 7 5 UBS 291,264 62 6 5 JPMorgan 267,708 49 4 6 JPMorgan 267,708 49 7 6 Rothschild 245,047 48 5 7 Merrill Lynch 266,986 45 9 7 Merrill Lynch 266,986 45 2 8 Morgan Stanley 259,499 43 10 8 Morgan Stanley 259,499 43 11 9 Lazard 245,964 42 8 9 Credit Suisse 379,715 42 10 10 Rothschild 245,047 48 13 10 Lazard 245,964 42 13 11 BNP Paribas 218,786 16 19 11 Houlihan Lokey 3,825 42 19 12 HSBC Bank 218,142 16 11 12 PricewaterhouseCoopers Corp Fin 12,598 40 29 13 Macquarie Group 215,377 11 5 13 Deloitte 4,319 38 89 14 SG 211,561 8 12 14 Ernst & Young 14,930 37 59 15 Gresham Advisory Partners 211,248 3 15 15 Deutsche Bank 378,564 36 6 16 Lehman Brothers 172,129 32 14 16 Lehman Brothers 172,129 32 32 17 Centerview Partners 109,011 3 21 17 Jefferies & Company 10,289 26 131 18 FIH PARTNERS 19,295 4 28 18 BDO Corporate Finance 406 24 27 19 Ernst & Young 14,930 37 16 19 ABN AMRO 9,238 20 43 20 Sandler O'Neill & Partners 14,080 7 24 20 Nomura 4,903 19 mergermarket M&A league tables of fi nancial advisers - First Quarter 2008 - April 1, 2008 Page 2 Global Buyouts League Table of Financial Advisers to Global Buyouts: Value League Table of Financial Advisers to Global Buyouts: Volume Value No of Value No of Y/E 2007 Q1 2008 Company Name (USDm) Deals Y/E 2007 Q1 2008 Company Name (USDm) Deals 6 1 Merrill Lynch 7,043 5 2 1 PricewaterhouseCoopers Corp Fin 5,177 11 14 2 PricewaterhouseCoopers Corp Fin 5,177 11 4 2 KPMG Corp Fin 650 8 13 3 UBS 3,855 3 5 3 Ernst & Young 620 8 - 4 Sardis Capital 3,227 1 12 4 Rothschild 1,450 6 3 5 Deutsche Bank 3,057 1 11 5 Merrill Lynch 7,043 5 8 6 Credit Suisse 2,673 3 1 6 Deloitte 619 5 50 7 Barclays Bank 2,315 2 20 7 ABN AMRO 1,740 4 4 8 Lehman Brothers 2,311 3 22 8 Close Brothers Group 850 4 2 9 Goldman Sachs 2,206 3 15 9 Grant Thornton Corporate Finance 250 4 11 10 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 2,063 1 17 10 BDO Corporate Finance 57 4 5 11 Morgan Stanley 1,934 2 8 11 UBS 3,855 3 - 12 Nordea Corporate Finance 1,934 1 6 12 Credit Suisse 2,673 3 191 13 Banca IMI/Intesa Sanpaolo 1,868 2 9 13 Lehman Brothers 2,311 3 25 14 ABN AMRO 1,740 4 7 14 Goldman Sachs 2,206 3 21 15 Rothschild 1,450 6 3 15 Citigroup 1,358 3 1 16 Citigroup 1,358 3 45 16 Barclays Bank 2,315 2 - 17 Challenger Capital Group 1,004 1 10 17 Morgan Stanley 1,934 2 310 18 Poyry Capital 984 1 203 18 Banca IMI/Intesa Sanpaolo 1,868 2 96 19 Close Brothers Group 850 4 41 19 Jefferies & Company 598 2 - 20 Callisto 817 1 44 20 SG 370 2 Note: based on fi rms advising the bidder on buyout deals mergermarket M&A league tables of fi nancial advisers - First Quarter 2008 - April 1, 2008 Page 3 Global M&A Trend Data and Top Deals Global M&A Activity - Quarterly Global Buyout M&A Activity - Quarterly 1,600 4,500 450 800 Value Value Volume Volume 400 1,400 4,000 700 350 3,500 600 1,200 300 3,000 500 1,000 250 2,500 400 800 200 2,000 300 Volume of Deals Value of Deals ($bn) 600 Volume of Deals Value of Deals ($bn) 150 1,500 200 400 100 1,000 50 100 200 500 0 0 0 0 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Qtr 1 03 03 03 03 04 04 04 04 05 05 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 08 03 03 03 03 04 04 04 04 05 05 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 08 Top Announced Deals Q1 2008 - All Regions Deal Value Announced Date Bidder Company Bidder Financial Adviser Target Company Target/Seller Financial Adviser Seller Company USD (m) Credit Suisse; Deutsche Bank; BNP Paribas; Citigroup; Goldman Sachs; JPMorgan Cazenove; Macquarie 06-Feb-08 BHP Billiton Ltd Gresham Advisory Partners; HSBC Bank; Rio Tinto plc 210,868 Group; Morgan Stanley; Rothschild; Lazard; Merrill Lynch; UBS SG Advising seller: Centerview Partners; Philip Morris Citigroup; Credit Suisse; Deutsche 30-Jan-08 Altria Group Inc (Shareholders) Altria Group Inc 106,884 International Inc Bank; Goldman Sachs; Lehman Brothers Scottish & Access Partners; Deutsche Bank; FIH 25-Jan-08 Carlsberg A/S; and Heineken NV Credit Suisse; Lehman Brothers 19,100 Newcastle plc PARTNERS; Rothschild; UBS Credit Suisse; Deutsche Bank; Aluminum Corporation of China; China International Capital; Lehman Rio Tinto plc 01-Feb-08 JPMorgan Cazenove; Macquarie 14,000 and Alcoa Inc Brothers (12% stake) Group; Morgan Stanley; Rothschild Citigroup Government of Singapore (undisclosed 15-Jan-08 Investment Corporation Pte Ltd; Lazard Citigroup 9,880 economic and Kuwait Investment Authority interest) mergermarket M&A league tables of fi nancial advisers - First Quarter 2008 - April 1, 2008 Page 4 Europe The pipeline of European expected deals has shrunk to nearly half its size in the last three months.