* Roster featured 11 banks and 30 bankers
* Lead advisers likely to share bulk of the fees
* Robey Warshaw and Perella Weinberg were the first named
advisers
By Anjuli Davies and Sophie Sassard
LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - It took a staggering 11 banks
and 30 named bankers to seal the $30 billon tie-up between
Deutsche Boerse DB1Gn.DE and London Stock Exchange Group
LSE.L (LSE).
The roll call was included in Wednesday's announcement of
the deal to create a European trading powerhouse to see off
competition from U.S. rivals. But the list would be longer still
if it included the lawyers, PR advisers and accountants that
will no doubt claim a slice of the fee bonanza.
The 11 banks will be fighting for an estimated fee pot of
$85 million, according to Freeman Consulting/Thomson Reuters
estimates.
Acting for LSE, Barclays BARC.L , Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) GS.N ,
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) JPM.N , RBC Capital Markets, Societe Generale
SOGN.PA , UBS UBSG.S and boutique Robey Warshaw could share
up to $40 million in fees, according to the estimates.
On the Deutsche Boerse side, Perella Weinberg Partners, BofA
Merrill Lynch BAC.N , Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE and HSBC
HSBA.L will clamour over roughly $45 million.
Lead advisers are likely to take the lion's share of the
fees. Many of the banks and advisers named on the roster were
added as the deal unfolded. When news of the potential merger
first broke, only Robey Warshaw and Perella Weinberg Partners
were named as advisers.
Advisory boutique Robey Warshaw is fast becoming the go-to
bank for UK Plc. It has advised on three of the largest ever
deals involving British companies in the past year.
Deutsche Boerse's main adviser is Andrew Bednar, of fellow
boutique Perella Weinberg. Bednar and his firm led the talks for
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on its ill-fated attempted merger
with the German bourse in 2011/12.
UNUSUAL NUMBERS
Even for a potential $30 billion deal, the large number of
advisers is unusual.
When Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L announced its $70 billion
takeover of British energy company BG Group (LON:BG) in April 2015, only
three banks were involved in the transaction.
Nine banks shared the spoils when Glencore GLEN.L took
over Xstrata in 2012, while seven handled the merger of Holcim
and Lafarge (PA:LAFP) LHN.S and related asset sales.
That the deal was between financial markets operators could
well be a factor, say sources.
"All these banks were brought in at the very end to preserve
confidentiality. But they are all important customers, so if we
could please them with some league table credits, why not do
it?" said one source speaking on condition of anonymity.
And, the deal is not done yet. A takeover battle for LSE
could yet ensue.
NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange ICE.N has already
said it might make a rival bid for LSE, while CME Group CME.O
is actively considering bidding, people familiar with the matter
have told Reuters.
Fee estimates exclude any underwriting or arrangement fees
to finance the acquisition. If Deutsche Boerse finances the
all-share merger through bonds or loans, it will need to pay
between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent in underwriting/arrangement
fees.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Frankfurt and London seal $30 bln trading tie-up to counter U.S.
threat
BREAKINGVIEWS-Market only half buys LSE merger thesis
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(Editing by David Goodman)