According to the latest statistics published by Thomson Financial, the volume of deals worldwide announced by business banks was up 24% in 2007, to $4,482 billion. Ranking, however, did not change very much in 2007 compared to the previous year. Goldman Sachs held on to the first place among advisory banks for merger operations and acquisitions with 429 transactions advised for a total volume of $1,419 billion. It is still ahead of Morgan Stanley (which ranks 2nd, with 431 deals amounting to $1,341.9 billion), Citi (3rd, 539 deals for $1,152.2 billion) and JP Morgan (4th, 433 deals for $1,077.1 billion). Then there is UBS (5th, 463 deals for $1,023.7 billion), moving up one place to the detriment of Merrill Lynch, which slides to 8th position (355 deals for $787.8 million), ahead of Credit Suisse (6th, 390 deals for $876.4 million); and Deutsche Bank (7th, 289 deals for $868.6 million). Lehman Brothers is to be found in 9th position (278 deals for $767.2 million), ahead of Rothschild (10th, 390 deals for $566.1 million). Then there is Lazard (11th, 263 deals for $529.8 million) and BNP Paribas (12th, 199 deals for $384.6 million). In terms of deals carried out, Morgan Stanley (2) nonetheless runs ahead of Goldman Sachs (1) and Citi (3). Goldman Sachs, however, continues to lead the race for commissions on transactions finalised with a total of $3.1 billion compared to $2.6 billion for Morgan Stanley and $1.9 billion for Citi. As far as the mergers involving one or several European companies are concerned, Morgan Stanley remains in the lead, as in 2006, ahead of UBS and Goldman Sachs. In terms of transactions carried out, Morgan Stanley, which ranked third behind UBS last year, steals the “pole position” from Goldman Sachs.