Paige A. Jennings, who moonlights as "Veronica Vain," quit her internship with Lazard Asset Management this month to pursue a career in the adult-film industry.

"I just left a job on Wall Street for a porn career because I can't stop masturbating at work ... " Jennings' Twitter bio (@TheVeronicaVain) says [NSFW].

Jennings worked as a part-time intern in Lazard's alternative-investments marketing group in New York. She was with Lazard from June 2, 2014, until Jan. 9, 2015, Business Insider has learned.

On Twitter, Jennings said that she "quit [Wall Street] before it fired me."

NewsCult first reported that Jennings had posted nude selfies from inside the bathroom of Lazard's offices on her Twitter account. Those selfies were taken down from Jennings' Twitter, but screenshots of them still exist on NewsCult's site [again, NSFW].

In an interview with BroBible, Jennings said that she didn't expect her coworkers to find the photos since they weren't actually attached to her real name.

"I had already put in my two weeks’ notice and was sticking around to tie up some loose ends," she said. "My boss’s boss called me over the phone with an HR lady. I had a pretty good reputation intellectually, and this executive was aware of that. However, he obviously couldn’t have me coming back to the office when likely just about everyone had seen me half naked online," she told BroBible.

Naturally, that wouldn't bode well on Wall Street.

Jennings also told BroBible that she hopes to make her debut in the adult-film industry on "The Sex Factor," a reality porn-competition show. She said that she's been called back for a final casting. She also said she's been talking to agents in the industry.

She previously worked as a stripper, but didn't see it as "a viable career path." One day she said she might want to start an "adult-industry-centered venture-capital fund."

Well, there's no turning back now.

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Former Wall Street intern Paige A. Jennings who quit her job this month to pursue a career as a porn star named "Veronica Vain" is shooting her first film this weekend. 

ArrangementFinders.com — a dating website that connects attractive young women with rich men — announced that it has signed Jennings (Veronica Vain) to a six-figure business deal that includes her first film role.

Jennings, who declined to specify the exact figure she'll be paid, will be appearing in "Screwing Wall Street: The ArrangementFinders IPO."

She's scheduled to shoot her first scene on Sunday in Los Angeles with 39-year-old French porn star Manuel Ferrera. She told us that she's not nervous. 

The 23-year-old Fordham University graduate worked as a part-time intern in Lazard Asset Management's alternative-investments marketing group in New York. Before she quit, she had posted nude selfies from inside the bathroom of Lazard's offices on her Twitter account. She told us that she still has no idea how the firm found out about the photos. 

She told Business Insider that she's taking what she learned working in marketing on Wall Street and applying it to the adult film industry. 

She called her new adult-film venture "revolutionary and disruptive." The movie will feature product placement for ArrangementFinders.com. Jennings believes this is how the adult film industry can start increasing its revenues. 

"Nearly everyone watches porn. They might not admit it. Advertisers are not utilizing that channel to reach this massive audience." 

She thinks there's a huge market for "sin products" such as non-traditional dating sites, lingerie, condoms and alcohol, etc. that mainstream marketing has rejected. 

"So many people watch [porn]. If the industry sees those advertising dollars, you'll see growth." 

Since leaving Lazard for porn, Jennings said that her friends, mom and boyfriend have been supportive. 

"My boyfriend is very supportive." 

She didn't name her boyfriend, but said he's a "an Ivy League educated guy who works in New York" and is "super hot."

"He's not the type of guy you would think would date a porn star. He's a normal guy with an office job." 

She also expects some of her former colleagues on Wall Street will watch her new film. 

"Every time you'd walk down the aisle, it was eyes on me. You know how it is when you're a woman in business and you're in a tight pencil skirt," she said. "You could definitely feel men's eyes. You know when men are watching you. I definitely felt that when I worked on the floor."

Well, porn sites are blocked at banks. They'll have to watch from the privacy of their own homes. 

SEE ALSO: Wall Street intern posts nude selfies from the bank's bathroom, then quits to pursue a career in porn

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On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal profiled Matthieu Pigasse, the investment banker and vice-chairman of Lazard Europe who is currently advising the Greek government on its debt deal with the Eurogroup.

But he's so much more than just your average investment banker.

From the WSJ: 

In France, Mr. Pigasse, a one-time guitar player, has shot to fame as the self-marketed rock star of finance. He co-owns the left-leaning French newspaper Le Monde, listens to punk rock in the office and, despite working for one of the most storied names in finance, says he wants a social revolution against the "conservative status quo."

The WSJ profile leaves out the time in 2010 when Pigasse allegedly rented a house in the Hamptons and then skipped out on it after two days because he "didn't like the view."That seems like a pretty rock star thing to do, though.

As for Pigasse's banking activities, WSJ reports that, "his debt-advisory team met with Greek officials in Brussels to work on the practical elements of a plan under which private-sector investors will write off 50% of €206 billion ($277 billion) of Greek sovereign debt they hold."

And as for what Pigasse has to say for himself, he told the Journal:

Mr. Pigasse described himself as a pro-market Socialist. He is a financier who wants more market regulation and a millionaire banker who doesn't own real estate or a car. "I don't see any contradiction here," he said. "I think you can defend ideas that are not, financially speaking, in your interest."

SEE ALSO: The Lazard Banker Who "Didn't Like The View" Is Busted For (Allegedly) Lying About Wire Transfer

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LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Lazard banker Vincent Le Stradic recently took a break from his job advising Europe's top telecoms companies on deals to help little-known French start-up Sigfox raise 100 million euros.

Not many of his peers would spend months working on a relatively small transaction when big fees were there for the taking from industry leaders such as BT Group <bt.l> and Vodafone <vod.l> shopping round for acquisitions.

But building relationships with self-made entrepreneurs has been key to the success of a man who has sealed 91 deals worth some $500 billion over the past 18 years. And if that means starting small, the 46-year-old doesn't mind.

"What's so special about Vincent is his authentic passion for his job, which allows him to deploy the same level of focus and energy whether he works on a $10 million deal or a $20 billion deal", said Bernard Mourad, who used to work for Le Stradic at Morgan Stanley.

Sigfox, founded by French entrepreneur Ludovic Le Moan, builds low-cost wireless networks to connect objects such as electricity meters, smart watches and washing machines to the Internet -- providing the infrastructure that makes the so-called Internet of Things possible.

According to Le Stradic, nicknamed the "Petit Breton" for his small stature and origins in the rainy northwest of France, the company has the potential to be the next Facebook <fb.o>.

If he's right, Le Moan could be the source of many lucrative deals to come -- just as Le Stradic has benefited from a string of transactions since befriending Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris a decade ago and, more recently, Xavier Niel, the billionaire founder of French telecoms firm Iliad <ild.pa>.

"THE MASTER OF OBFUSCATION"

In a banking industry associated with cold reasoning and hard cash, Le Stradic has put personal skills at the heart of his approach.

Disparaged by some competitors as a "carpet seller" who haggles as if in a souk, most still dread facing him. Last year, he played billionaires Patrick Drahi and Martin Bouygues off each other to up their bids for French mobile firm SFR and raised $23 billion for his client Vivendi <viv.pa>.

Le Stradic takes pleasure in calling himself "the master of obfuscation," and his negotiating skills have left even Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim with a bitter taste.

In June 2012, the banker helped Austrian investor Ronny Pecik sell shares in Telekom Austria <tela.vi> to Slim for 9.5 euros apiece, only for their value to halve in 2013.

Le Stradic's track record is not without failures, though.

Xavier Niel's attempt to buy T-Mobile U.S. <tmus.n> last year foundered in part because owner Deutsche Telekom <dtegn.de> saw the French tycoon's camp, which included Le Stradic, as arrogant and overconfident, people close to the matter said.

DIPLOMACY

Despite his self-confessed wheeler-dealing, many top executives have complete confidence in Le Stradic.

"Vincent is someone with a strong ethical sense so people trust him", said Iliad Chief Financial Officer Thomas Renaud. "We worked with him even though he had recently advised some of our diehard competitors."

Part of this may be down to dedication. In 2012, Le Stradic interrupted a sailing trip in Sicily on his Scottish Bermudan cutter to help Sawiris on a deal, showing up at a meeting with an Italian CEO in tight trousers and flashy sneakers because they were the only clothes he could buy at the airport.

Having a "good laugh" is always part of working with Le Stradic, say people who know him, while his time at the French Treasury before joining Morgan Stanley <ms.n> in 1996 and Lazard <laz.n> in 2002 means he is at ease navigating both the public and private sectors.

That has at times made the engineering graduate from France's prestigious Les Mines school a natural intermediary.

Le Stradic organized several trips to India for Vivendi executive Regis Turrini when the media group was looking at targets there. "We didn't end up doing any deals but we had a really good time," recalled Turrini, who hired Le Stradic for about four deals after 2003.

Le Stradic's diplomatic skills were tested to the limit during the five-year battle for Egypt's largest mobile operator Mobinil that pitted French telecoms firm Orange <oran.pa> against Sawiris.

In 2009, both parties called him for help but since he could not choose between two good clients, the banker offered his services as negotiator on a peace deal.

"That was totally surreal," he recalls. "I was literally emailing myself a term sheet I had done with one party in the morning and responding to it with the other party later on in the afternoon!"

As the negotiations dragged on, the family man decided to bring his four children and wife Ines to Egypt to visit the Pyramids while he worked over New Year's Eve.

Another fight soon erupted between Sawiris and Orange and Le Stradic stayed stuck at the hotel while his family went to Giza.

Orange eventually took control of Mobinil in 2012. Both camps paid him a fee and continue working with him -- though Le Stradic has yet to see the Pyramids.

(Editing by Mark Potter)

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As we know, Heinz and Kraft are merging.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital are behind the merger, which is likely to be one of the biggest M&A deals of the year.

So it's kind of awkward for Wall Street that all the major banks were left out of the deal.

Boutique bank Lazard was Heinz' sole advisor, while Kraft turned to Centerview Partners, a little-known banking advisory firm.

Both firms advised Berkshire and 3G when they teamed up to buy Heinz back in 2013. Now, Heinz has acquired Kraft for roughly $40 billion.

And Wall Street may not be taking kindly to the news, judging by Deutsche Bank's Gordon Gekko comment on Friday.

As The New York Times' David Gelles notes, boutique banks and smaller advisors are gaining prominence for these kinds of deals, grabbing 18 percent of business last year, up from 8 percent back in 2008.

Of course, the reason no big-name banks were needed for this deal is there was no need for debt-financing. 3G and Berkshire Hathaway, which last year held more than $4o billion in cash, had that covered. Together they're funding a $16.50-per-share dividend for Kraft shareholders, The Wall Street Journal's Maureen Farrell reported.

Lazard also advised 3G Capital when it bought Burger King, and then, controversially, when Burger King bought Tim Hortons last year. The Journal's Farrell said the two worked together on another deal as early as 2004.

Lazard could earn $50 million-$60 million from the deal, while Centerview could get between $75 million and $100 million, Bloomberg reported.

Not something we imagine Wall Street wants to hear.

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Wall Street’s biggest banks watched helplessly as their smaller, more nimble competitors divvied up more than $100 million in deal fees thanks to Kraft Food’s merger with H.J. Heinz.

Centerview Partners LLC, based in New York, was the exclusive advisor to Kraft Foods, and Lazard was H.J. Heinz’s only bank for their deal, valued at $36.6 billion.

This wasn’t the first big coup for Centerview, which also advised on last year’s biggest M&A transaction, the yet-to-be-completed Time Warner Cable-Comcast merger.

Boutiques like Centerview have doubled their share of M&A revenue from US clients since 2008, on a percentage basis, from 8% in 2008 to 16% last year. In 2013, boutiques commanded their highest percentage of US M&A, at 18%, according to Dealogic, which tracks industry data. Centerview, which was formed in 2006, has shot up league tables, taking the 12th spot in Dealogic’s M&A revenue table for US banking revenue for last year. 

Boutique banks are making a dent in big banks’ transactional revenue, poaching top talent and taking aim at a select handful of companies that can fuel a company's profits with the single stroke of a pen. 

Boutique banks are moving up Wall St. league tables

Banking league tables, used to gauge individual firms’ deal prowess on a quarterly basis vary, in part based on factors like what defines a ‘boutique,’ which in turn impacts how the smaller class of banks stacks up against competitors.

Dealogic doesn’t count firms including Jefferies LLC and Lazard as boutiques, though, few would argue they could be classified as bulge-bracket firms, either. Bulge-bracket names include the undisputed giants like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan.

Other top boutiques, according to Dealogic’s US M&A revenue table, include Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners (ranked 18th), Perella Weinberg Partners LP (ranked 27th) and, leading the pack, Evercore Partners Inc. (taking the #11 spot).

Lazard and Jefferies rank ninth and 10th, respectively.

Often, boutiques are launched by senior bankers at publicly-listed firms, and sometimes after power struggles with other top managers. 

Power struggles have left top banks smarting after key departures

Paul J. Taubman, who, with Morgan Stanley was thought to be a potential leader of the bank, instead left in 2012 after what was widely reported to be a power struggle between he and other lieutenants there. In 2013, working independently, he ranked 11th on banking league tables, raking in fees from $175 billion in transactions, including Verizon’s $130 billion acquisition of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless that year (2013’s biggest transaction).

It would take until 2014 for Taubman to hire anyone (he poached Morgan Stanley bankers for his shop), and by October of last year, he took his small team to Blackstone’s advisory business in a merger that would provide his team with a whopping 35% stake in the joint unit. An IPO is expected in the second half of this year. 

Other times, bankers opt to branch out independently after they become disillusioned with deferred compensation, a post-crisis issue that has grated some on Wall St. Some bankers privately say deferred compensation at bulge bracket banks, instituted thanks to Capitol Hill uproar during the financial crisis’ nadir, is spurring more top bankers to leave, since boutiques can offer payment based exclusively in cash immediately. 

"Part of it is talent driven,” said Alvarez & Marsal managing director Paul Aversano, who regularly works with boutique firms. “And there's significant talent there."

A tradition as old as Wall St. itself

Taubman’s firm, PJT Partners, is far from the first Wall Street pro to pursue the IPO route.

In the 1990s, a slew of top dealmakers defected from firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for new boutiques like Evercore Partners and Greenhill & Co. Both banks have debuted on public markets, generating positive returns despite each going public on the New York Stock Exchange in years prior to the financial crisis. Moelis & Co., which launched in 2007 and went public last year, has also generated positive returns since its offering.

Others are taking advantage of the opportunity and there are more offerings are on the way in 2015. Houlihan Lokey, a New York advisor founded in 1972, is reportedly prepping a public offering. PJT Partners is doing the same, going public confidentially under the Jobs Act, although, according to a recent filing, despite big wins on the deal scene, its revenue growth slowed from 11.9% in 2013, to just 1% growth last year: 

While Morgan Stanley is no doubt smarting from the PR sting of losing out to its former heavyweight, not every bulge bracket bank is feeling the pain being inflicted by boutiques. In its fourth quarter report, Goldman Sachs noted its investment banking revenue had approached nearly $6.5 billion, its best tally since 2008. UBS, on the other hand, posted banking revenue of 4.54 billion Swiss francs in 2007 — that fell to 1.9 billion francs last year.

UBS did not respond to a request seeking comment for this story.

This issue highlights a bigger problem smaller banks are encountering: many are stocked with talent capable of making high-value transactions in the US, where they both speak the language and have decades’ worth of relationships. But, in terms of generating capital internationally where, for example, Goldman Sachs books the bulk of its banking revenue, smaller firms staffed often with just a few dozen people are at a disadvantage. PJT Partners, for example, draws just a sliver of its earnings internationally, according to its most recent federal filing. 

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Late last year, Elizabeth Warren fought hard to prevent Antonio Weiss, an ex-Lazard banker, from taking a top position at the Treasury, claiming he was yet another Wall Streeter passing through the revolving door with Washington, and would inevitably damage financial regulation to the benefit of the big banks.

She won that battle: Weiss ended up declining the position and taking role as counselor to the Treasury secretary instead.

Now, Weiss has come out swinging in defense of financial regulation, with an op-ed written in The Wall Street Journal.

"It is neither possible nor prudent to return to practices that were prevalent prior to the crisis," he wrote.

He pointed to a growing concern in financial markets about liquidity, and the increasingly prevalent theory that it has been "killed" by regulations, which ought to be repealed.

"The reality is not so simple, and that prescription is dangerous," he wrote.

This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act, which was designed to change the rules of the game on Wall Street, reduce risk-taking, and prevent a similar crisis from ever occurring again.

The law has been controversial from the outset.

It has already seen a number of amendments, and a push in Congress to tweak the most controversial part of the act, the Volcker Rule, and allow banks to trade potentially risky derivatives rather than "pushing out" that business to subsidiaries and other affiliates that aren't underwritten by the government.

Many believe that more needs to be done to roll back regulation – like these SEC and CFTC commissioners who, despite working at two major regulatory bodies, wrote a scathing column for Reuters about regulators and their "lack of forethought and market knowledge."

They claim the regulators are contributing to market risk.

Meanwhile, Antonio Weiss over at the Treasury says "Our focus, in both the private and public sectors, should be on adapting to the dynamics of the new marketplace, not on returning to a past whose rules can’t reasonably apply to us now."

"Only a financial system strong enough to withstand a major financial shock is capable of promoting sustainable economic growth," he wrote.

Read the full op-ed in The Wall Street Journal»

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Global mergers and acquisitions activity this year is on course to surpass the record high set in 2007.

That has led some, like Centerview Partners cofounder Blair Effron, to sound the alarm over the level of activity, saying the market may be overheated. Others, such as Michael Carr, the global co-head of mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs, have said that only thing that could stop the record breaking pace of activity is hubris. 

In a note today upgrading the M&A advisory broker sector, Credit Suisse analyst Ashley Serrao set out two key reasons why the M&A cycle may have further to run: European deal makers and private equity funds. 

"We believe expectations around the M&A cycle have become overly pessimistic and we reiterate our call for a flatter and longer M&A cycle than those seen in the past with the next leg driven by a pick-up in European and sponsor M&A as US growth slows," Serrao writes.

The note upgrades Moelis and Greenhill from underperform to neutral, and identifies Lazard and Evercore as the top two stocks in the M&A broker sector. 

One of the slides in the report compares 2007 with 2015, comparing a range of factors including interest rates, chief executive confidence and default rates. The report states that more cash, confidence and funding indicates that the current cycle can continue. 

The comparison highlights the low level of activity in Europe. With $1 trillion of deals announced there,  activity is almost half what it was in 2007. Sponsor, or private equity, activity is also lagging, with private equity firms complaining they can't spend their cash. 

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NOW WATCH: People were baffled by 50 sharks circling in shallow waters off the English coast

Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch InBev announced Wednesday that it wants to buy SABMiller.

The deal could be valued at as much as $100 billion, and if successful would be the biggest takeover this year.

Combined, the companies would be worth an estimated $275 billion.

That's great news for Wall Street.

Both Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller have reached out to a handful of advisers at investments banks large and small, and the fees are likely to be hefty if the deal goes ahead.

Consultant Freeman and Co. estimates that if a formal bid of around $100 billion materializes, advisory fees for those working with the bidder — AB InBev — would be between $95 million and $115 million.

Advisers to SABMiller would be in line for between $100 million and $120 million.

So who's getting all the work?

Lazard is the lead advisor to Anheuser-Busch InBev. Three banks are advising SABMiller: JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and, notably, Robey Warshaw, a 3-year-old, nine-person advisory boutique.

Here's what we know so far about which bankers are in on the deal:

Lazard

Alexander Hecker

Hecker is co-head of consumer and retail investment banking at independent investment bank Lazard.

He worked on the InBev-Anheuser Busch deal in 2008 in addition to the more recent Warren Buffett-3G Capital acquisition of Heinz. He has also previously worked on AB InBev’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo, and AmBev’s acquisition of Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana.

Hecker has a history of working with 3G Capital, the Brazilian private equity giant behind AB InBev. He also worked with the firm to take Burger King and Playboy Industries private.

Robey Warshaw

Simon Robey

Robey co-heads the London-based boutique with Simon Warshaw. Before founding his boutique advisory firm three years ago, he was head of UK investment banking and co-head of global mergers and acquisitions at Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley.

In addition to being a star dealmaker, he's also a professional standard singer, according to Financial News. He's chairman of the Royal Opera House board.

Simon Warshaw

Warshaw was the head of investment banking at UBS before joining Robey to form their boutique advisory firm.

He also worked on another giant transaction involving a US company and a UK-listed firm, working with Vodafone on the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon. That deal was valued at $130 billion.

JPMorgan

John Muncey

Muncey is head of JPMorgan's corporate finance team in the UK. He joined the bank from UBS. He was a managing director in the European consumer team at that bank.

Muncey has a history of expertise in the liquor and beverage industry. According to the FT, his clients include liquor giant Diageo and UK brewer Scottish and Newcastle, in addition to Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft, and Germany's Tchibo.

Dwayne Lysaght

Lysaght is JPMorgan's head of UK mergers and acquisition.

He has worked on a number of deals involving North American buyers and UK targets. He advised UK insurer Brit on its sale to Canadian peer Fairfax earlier this year, and previously worked with AbbVie on its aborted deal with UK pharmaceutical company Shire.

Morgan Stanley

Henry Stewart

Stewart runs UK and Irish investment banking for Morgan Stanley. He is a specialist in the consumer sector and a longtime adviser to SABMiller.

Paul Baker

Baker is an old-school British banker who heads corporate broking for Morgan Stanley. He assumed that role in 2004. Corporate broking is a practice unique to the UK, where public companies name one or more companies as retained advisers.

SEE ALSO: The biggest Wall Street payday in years faces a ticking clock

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Budweiser owner AB InBev has reached an agreement with Miller maker SABMiller to combine forces in the biggest beer deal of the decade.

AB InBev raised its offer for SABMiller to £44 ($67.62) a share, valuing the brewer at £71.2 billion ($109.4 billion).

Combined, the companies would be worth an estimated $275 billion.

The means a lot of work for Wall Street firms who are advising the companies on both sides.

Lazard is the lead advisor to Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Advising SABMiller are JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Robey Warshaw, a 3-year-old, nine-person advisory boutique.

Deutsche Bank is acting as corporate broker.

Here's what we know so far about which bankers are in on the deal:

Lazard

Alexander Hecker

Hecker is co-head of consumer and retail investment banking at independent investment bank Lazard.

He worked on the InBev-Anheuser Busch deal in 2008 in addition to the more recent Warren Buffett-3G Capital acquisition of Heinz. He has also previously worked on AB InBev’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo, and AmBev’s acquisition of Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana.

Hecker has a history of working with 3G Capital, the Brazilian private equity giant behind AB InBev. He also worked with the firm to take Burger King and Playboy Industries private.

Jean Greene

Greene is a managing director at Lazard. She joined the firm in 1999, and has worked on deals involving Tyco, ITT, and Bon-Ton's acquisition of Saks. Before joining Lazard, Greene covered oil and gas companies at Smith Barney.

William Rucker

Rucker is the head of Lazard in London, and is known as one of UK's top advisers. In the past year alone he has worked on transactions involving UK companies Aldermore, Greene King, Quintain Estates and Polyus Gold, according to filings. He often gets involved in cross-border deals with the firm’s New York arm.

Charlie Foreman

Foreman joined Lazard in 2009 from Deutsche Bank, and typically focuses on capital markets transactions. He has also been working on the initial public offering of payment processing company World Pay, which listed in the UK Tuesday morning, making it a busy few days.

Robey Warshaw

Simon Robey

Robey co-heads the London-based boutique with Simon Warshaw. Before founding his boutique advisory firm three years ago, he was head of UK investment banking and co-head of global mergers and acquisitions at Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley.

In addition to being a star dealmaker, he's also a professional standard singer, according to Financial News. He's chairman of the Royal Opera House board.

Simon Warshaw

Warshaw was the head of investment banking at UBS before joining Robey to form their boutique advisory firm.

He also worked on another giant transaction involving a US company and a UK-listed firm, working with Vodafone on the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon. That deal was valued at $130 billion.

JPMorgan

John Muncey

Muncey is head of JPMorgan's corporate finance team in the UK. He joined the bank from UBS. He was a managing director in the European consumer team at that bank.

Muncey has a history of expertise in the liquor and beverage industry. According to the FT, his clients include liquor giant Diageo and UK brewer Scottish and Newcastle, in addition to Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft, and Germany's Tchibo.

Dwayne Lysaght

Lysaght is JPMorgan's head of UK mergers and acquisition.

He has worked on a number of deals involving North American buyers and UK targets. He advised UK insurer Brit on its sale to Canadian peer Fairfax earlier this year, and previously worked with AbbVie on its aborted deal with UK pharmaceutical company Shire.

Morgan Stanley

Henry Stewart

Stewart runs UK and Irish investment banking for Morgan Stanley. He is a specialist in the consumer sector and a longtime adviser to SABMiller.

Paul Baker

Baker is an old-school British banker who heads corporate broking for Morgan Stanley. He assumed that role in 2004. Corporate broking is a practice unique to the UK, where public companies name one or more companies as retained advisers.

Goldman Sachs

Gilberto Pozzi

London-based Pozzi is a consumer sector specialist and was promoted earlier this year from his role as head of M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to global cohead of mergers and acquisitions. He joined Goldman in 1995 as an associate, and made partner in 2008. He has previously worked on deals for Unilever, Kraft Foods and Jimmy Choo.

Mark Sorrell

Sorrell is cohead of UK investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and is known as an excellent M&A technician. His father, Martin, is the chief executive of advertising giant WPP, while his two brothers also worked at Goldman Sachs for a period. Jonathan Sorrell is now chief financial officer at hedge fund man Group, while Robert Sorrell joined Moelis & Co in London last year.

Deutsche Bank

Ben Lawrence

Lawrence has worked on deals involving Shire, BTG, DP World, and Hammerson.

Simon Hollingsworth

Hollingsworth is a vice-president at Deutsche Bank. He joined the firm in June from Credit Suisse.

SEE ALSO: The biggest Wall Street payday in years faces a ticking clock

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NOW WATCH: The story behind the famously offensive twitter account that parodies Wall Street culture

Albertsons' initial public offering has been delayed indefinitely, and it could be thanks to one critical error leading up to its pricing.

The Idaho-based grocery chain was scheduled to price its offering on Wednesday.

That turned out to be the same day that Walmart revealed dismal earnings results.

Goldman Sachs, which was the lead underwriter on the IPO, declined to comment for this story. Albertsons' private-equity owners, Cerberus Capital, also declined to comment.

IPO advisers put a lot of consideration into timing — weighing factors including whether other large issuers are in the market and holidays that could keep investors away from road-show meetings.

Sometimes the preferences of a company founder can come into play. When Alibaba Group was planning its IPO, some media reported that founder Jack Ma wanted the stock to begin trading on August 8 (or 8/8) because the number eight is associated with good luck in China.

Of course, luck does have something to do with it. Investor sentiment can sour for unpredictable reasons.

But some risks can be foreseen. In Albertsons' case it is that Walmart was long scheduled to report its results on Wednesday morning.

Unfortunately for the company's planned offering, when Walmart announced earnings it also cut its forward-looking estimates. Its share price dropped by as much as 9%, the biggest single-day decline in at least six years.

Later in the day, Albertsons' IPO pricing was delayed.

Now, it seems, that Cerberus and Goldman Sachs will have to live with that decision for some time.

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Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch InBev announced Wednesday that it has agreed a deal to buy SABMiller.

The deal is worth around $108 billion, and is set to be the biggest takeover so far this year.

That's great news for Wall Street.

Both Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller have reached out to a handful of advisers at investments banks large and small, and the fees are going to be hefty.

Consultant Freeman and Co. previously estimated that advisory fees for those working with the bidder — AB InBev — would be between $95 million and $115 million.

Advisers to SABMiller would be in line for between $100 million and $120 million.

That doesn't include all the banks working on the financing of the transaction. AB InBev has obtained $75 billion of loans for the deal, in what is the biggest loan deal on record. 

So who's getting all the work?

Lazard is the lead adviser to Anheuser-Busch InBev, and there are another five banks advising on the deal, several of which are involved in the financing. They include Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, and Standard Bank. 

Four banks are advising SABMiller: JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and, notably, Robey Warshaw, a 3-year-old, nine-person advisory boutique.

Here's what we know about the bankers on the deal:

Lazard

Alexander Hecker

Hecker is cohead of consumer and retail investment banking at independent investment bank Lazard.

He worked on the InBev-Anheuser Busch deal in 2008 in addition to the more recent Warren Buffett-3G Capital acquisition of Heinz. He has also previously worked on AB InBev’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo, and AmBev’s acquisition of Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana.

Hecker has a history of working with 3G Capital, the Brazilian private equity giant behind AB InBev. He also worked with the firm to take Burger King and Playboy Industries private.

Jean Greene

Greene is a managing director at Lazard. She joined the firm in 1999 and has worked on deals involving Tyco, ITT, and Bon-Ton's acquisition of Saks. Before joining Lazard, Greene covered oil and gas companies at Smith Barney.

William Rucker

Rucker is the head of Lazard in London, and is known as one of UK's top advisers. In the past year alone he has worked on transactions involving UK companies Aldermore, Greene King, Quintain Estates, and Polyus Gold, according to filings. He often gets involved in cross-border deals with the firm’s New York arm.

Charlie Foreman

Foreman joined Lazard in 2009 from Deutsche Bank, and typically focuses on capital-markets transactions. He has also been working on the initial public offering of payment-processing company World Pay, which listed in the UK on Tuesday morning, making it a busy few days.

Other bankers on the deal at Lazard include Mario Skoff in New York, and Richard Shaw and Marcus Taylor in London.

Deutsche Bank

The Deutsche Bank team includes Bruce Evans, Bob Douglas, Simon Denny, Ben Lawrence, Andrew Tusa, and Simon Hollingsworth. Evans is one of the bank's most senior dealmakers, having previously coheaded M&A in the Americas. Denny runs investment banking in South Africa, while Tusa joined Deutsche Bank from Bank of America Merrill Lynch earlier this year as cohead of corporate broking. 

Lawrence has worked on deals involving Shire, BTG, DP World, and Hammerson, while Hollingsworth is a vice president at Deutsche Bank. He joined the firm in June from Credit Suisse.

Barclays

Barclays' team is made up of Wilco Faessen, Gary Posternack, and Mark Todd. Faessen is a consumer-sector specialist, while Posternack is global head of M&A. Todd is a Europe-based M&A specialist.

BNP Paribas

The team at the French bank is made up of Eric Jacquemot, who coheads M&A in Europe, and Bjorn De Carro, who is a consumer-goods specialist.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

The team is made up of veteran consumer and retail-banking specialist Federico Aliboni and Michael Findlay, who coheads UK investment banking. Geoff Iles, an M&A banker who was promoted to managing director last year, also worked on the deal.

Standard Bank

Fradreck Shoko, Ian Carton, and Clive Potter are advising AB Inbev in relation to African matters. 

Robey Warshaw

Simon Robey

Robey coheads the London-based boutique with Simon Warshaw. Before founding his boutique advisory firm three years ago, he was head of UK investment banking and cohead of global mergers and acquisitions at Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley.

In addition to being a star dealmaker, he's also a professional standard singer, according to Financial News. He's chairman of the Royal Opera House board.

Simon Warshaw

Warshaw was the head of investment banking at UBS before joining Robey to form their boutique advisory firm.

He also worked on another giant transaction involving a US company and a UK-listed firm, working with Vodafone on the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon. That deal was valued at $130 billion.

JPMorgan

John Muncey

Muncey is head of JPMorgan's corporate-finance team in the UK. He joined the bank from UBS. He was a managing director in the European consumer team at that bank.

Muncey has a history of expertise in the liquor and beverage industry. According to the FT, his clients include liquor giant Diageo and UK brewer Scottish and Newcastle, in addition to Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft, and Germany's Tchibo.

Dwayne Lysaght

Lysaght is JPMorgan's head of UK mergers and acquisition.

He has worked on a number of deals involving North American buyers and UK targets. He advised UK insurer Brit on its sale to Canadian peer Fairfax earlier this year, and previously worked with AbbVie on its aborted deal with UK pharmaceutical company Shire.

Morgan Stanley

Henry Stewart

Stewart runs UK and Irish investment banking for Morgan Stanley. He is a specialist in the consumer sector and a longtime adviser to SABMiller.

Paul Baker

Baker is an old-school British banker who heads corporate broking for Morgan Stanley. He assumed that role in 2004. Corporate broking is a practice unique to the UK, where public companies name one or more companies as retained advisers.

Goldman Sachs

Gilberto Pozzi

London-based Pozzi is a consumer-sector specialist and was promoted earlier this year from his role as head of M&A in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to global cohead of mergers and acquisitions. He joined Goldman in 1995 as an associate, and made partner in 2008. He has previously worked on deals for Unilever, Kraft Foods, and Jimmy Choo.

Mark Sorrell

Sorrell is cohead of UK investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and is known as an excellent M&A technician. His father, Martin, is the chief executive of advertising giant WPP, while his two brothers also worked at Goldman Sachs for a period. Jonathan Sorrell is now chief financial officer at hedge fund Man Group, while Robert Sorrell joined Moelis & Co. in London last year.

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A senior Citi executive is joining the investment bank Lazard.

Peter Orszag, who was vice chairman of corporate and investment banking and chairman of the financial-strategy and solutions group at Citi, will join Lazard as a managing director and vice chairman of investment banking in May.

He previously held multiple positions in the Obama administration, including director of the US Office of Management and Budget and director of the Congressional Budget Office.

He also served as a special assistant to the president for economic policy under the Clinton administration.

Orszag is also a Brookings Institution senior fellow and a columnist for Bloomberg View.

Here is the announcement from Lazard:

NEW YORK, February 24, 2016 — Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ) announced today that Peter R. Orszag will join the firm as a Managing Director and a Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, effective May 16. Based in New York, Mr. Orszag will advise clients on mergers and acquisitions and other financial and strategic matters.

“Peter is one of the most respected economic advisors on the world stage,” said Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lazard. “His expertise in finance, capital markets and public policy across industry sectors will be invaluable.”

“We welcome Peter’s insights and counsel in helping clients navigate the impact of a dynamic economic landscape, as they consider strategic challenges and opportunities for growth,” said Alexander F. Stern, Chief Executive Officer of Financial Advisory and Chief Operating Officer of Lazard. “He will be an integral member of our global advisory team.”

“Lazard occupies a unique position in global investment banking as a trusted advisor to leaders of business and government worldwide,” said Mr. Orszag. “I’m looking forward to working with the highest concentration of senior-level advisory bankers in the industry.”

Mr. Orszag will join Lazard from Citibank, where he was Vice Chairman of Corporate and Investment Banking and Chairman of the Financial Strategy and Solutions Group, since January 2011. He previously served as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Contributing Columnist at The New York Times. He served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama Administration, a Cabinet level position, from January 2009 until July 2010. From January 2007 to December 2008, Mr. Orszag was the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Prior to CBO, Mr. Orszag was the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution.

During the Clinton Administration, he was a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and before that a staff economist and then Senior Advisor and Senior Economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

Mr. Orszag graduated summa cum laude in economics from Princeton University and obtained a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Contributing Columnist at Bloomberg View.

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Business Insider recently caught up with James Donald, the head of emerging markets at Lazard Asset Management, to hear about his predictions for the emerging markets in the year ahead.

Donald is also portfolio manager of the Lazard Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio, which has assets totaling $11.4 billion invested across 76 holdings. 

In the interview, Donald discusses Russia, China, energy, and the challenges facing emerging market countries in 2017.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Tina Wadhwa: What do you see as the major challenges facing emerging market countries in 2017?

James Donaldson: The major challenges facing emerging markets in 2017 are several risks which could lead to reductions in global economic growth or even market disruptions. These include the possibility of economic disruption in Europe that could result from anti-European Union parties continuing to win elections and referenda, the possibility of sharply‎ rising US interest rates, and the risk of economic difficulties or crisis in China that's probably related to credit. Finally, the uncertainties of the new Trump administration policies, especially if they embody significant trade protectionism, would be another major challenge.

Wadhwa: Is a hawkish Fed and a strengthening dollar going to hurt EM in 2017?  

Donaldson: If US and global economic growth surprise the market and expand at a very rapid rate, there is a possibility ‎of a hawkish Fed. In those circumstances, the Fed could be forced to raise short-term US interest rates sharply and that might strengthen the US dollar. From what we know of the incoming Trump administration, there could be considerable infrastructure spending, which should increase US and global economic activity. However, the eventual spending may be less than investors are currently expecting and considerable deflationary forces continue to exist in the world economy. In that case, there might not need to be such a rapid increase in short-term US interest rates or in the US dollar. 

Wadhwa: In your end-of-year commentary, you wrote that you expect that a gradual tightening by the Fed would be seen as a positive sign of confidence in the economy and would benefit emerging markets in 2017. Many on Wall Street believe that the Fed will adopt a more aggressive tightening however if/when President-elect Trump nominates more hawkish members to the board. What effect will this have on EM?

Donaldson: Aggressive tightening by the Fed would likely have a negative effect on returns for emerging markets equities. If interest rates are increased sharply and consistently for some while, this is likely to attract investment inflows to assets such as US Treasurys instead of towards asset classes such as emerging markets equities.

Wadhwa: President-elect Trump has adopted what can be seen as a confrontational tone towards China, speaking with Taiwan and threatening to declare the country a currency manipulator and potentially impose tariffs. How do you see this playing out, when does it start to hurt China? Is there a retaliation we should be prepared for?

Donaldson: An intensification of this tone into serious trade protectionist policy would be uncharted territory and probably negative not for just emerging markets equities but also for global developed markets and even US shares. ‎For instance, the dollars earned by those countries that export to the United States have typically come back in the form of US stock and bond purchases. The threat of tariffs and quotas could potentially undermine foreign investments in the US. In the medium and long-term, it would mean that US consumers subsidize certain US worker groups and that prices remain higher than they would otherwise be. This would result in restrained economic activity and might cause stagnant global markets. 

Since the Trump administration has not yet taken office, we are still guessing what its real policies will entail. ‎Many world governments are also waiting to see what the Trump administration policies will be. Trump’s comments on Chinese trade, currency manipulation, and his telephone contact with Taiwan  to date have been highly unusual. ‎I believe that the Chinese are unhappy with these actions and comments but, so far, they apparently have not been inclined to retaliate. In my opinion, the Chinese government will avoid retaliation unless the Trump administration acts aggressively against China geopolitically and politically.  

Wadhwa: What effects will Trump’s proposed trade policies like protectionism, tariff and trade quotas, and immigration have on emerging market countries?

Donaldson: If significant tariffs are placed on emerging markets exports to the United States, ‎economic activity in the developing world could be negatively affected. This might well result in lower profits and therefore declining stock markets. Lower immigration could result in reduced worker remittances being made to emerging markets countries.  

These effects would not be felt just in emerging markets countries. In my view, protectionist policies would likely reduce economic growth everywhere over time. 

Wadhwa: Do you think the new administration will take a softer stance towards Russia with regards to the sanctions imposed post Crimea? And if so, do you see a lot of upside in Russia over the next 12-24 months?

Donaldson:It appears that the incoming administration has a very different view from the current US administration on Russia and might be inclined to modify sanctions which were imposed after Crimea. That would probably be positive for Russian equities which are, for the most part, not expensively valued. As a result, Russian equities could continue to perform strongly.

Wadhwa: OPEC struck an accord on coordinated output cuts.  What’s your view on energy prices over the next 12-24 months?  

Donaldson:Although OPEC has agreed to output cuts, we are anticipating relatively modest increases in oil prices over the next 24 months. There are still excess inventories and OPEC may find it hard to maintain the cuts. 

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LONDON — Greece is poised to call in Rothschild, one of the oldest financial firms in the world, to help it navigate its current debt crisis, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The FT reports that Greece is about to appoint Rothschild as its sovereign debt advisor, replacing US investment bank Lazard, which worked on bailout talks in 2012.

The appointment is set to be made before crunch debt talks with eurozone finance ministers on February 20, the FT says citing two unnamed sources.

Greece is facing a looming repayment crunch, with more than €6 billion (£5.1 billion, $6.3 billion) due in July that it is unlikely to be able to meet without help or restructuring.

Greece's two biggest creditors are the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU. The IMF earlier this month called for "significant debt relief" to stop Greece's debts becoming "explosive," but EU member states, particularly Germany, are reluctant to deviate from the previously agreed plan of harsh austerity reforms and repayments.

Rothschild is one of the oldest investment banks in the world, founded over 200 years ago by Mayer Amschel Rothschild. Five of his sons established banking businesses around Europe and the firm today has roughly 2,800 employees in 40 countries, according to its website.

Rothschild & Co. is the financial holding company for all the family's banking interests, covering investment banking, corporate banking, private equity, asset management, and private banking. It had a £1.38 billion annual revenue as of March 2016.

According to some estimates, the Rothschild family's combined personal wealth is as much as £285 billion ($350 billion), although not all of that derives from Rothschild & Co.

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Investment bank Lazard is having a record year, blowing past second-quarter revenue and profit estimates.

Lazard posted $120 million in profits in the quarter, or $0.91 per share, to go along with a record $720 million in operating revenue. 

That well exceeded analyst expectations of $0.79 earnings per share and $629 million in revenue. 

The firm also reported that assets under management rose to a record $226 billion, up $34 billion from a year ago.

"Lazard's record operating revenue underscores the power of our model and the global breadth and depth of our franchise," said Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Lazard. "We advised business and government leaders on a wide variety of strategic and financial matters around the world."

Lazard's strong quarter was driven by record mergers and acquisition advisory revenues of $323 million, 50% higher than the second quarter of 2016.

Deals Lazard advised on that were completed during the second quarter include:

• Johnson & Johnson's $30 billion acquisition of Actelion
• Danone's $12.5 billion acquisition of WhiteWave
• United Arab Shipping Company's $12.5 billion combination with Hapag-Lloyd
• Alinta Holdings on the sale of Alinta Energy to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises

Through the first half of 2017 Lazard has generated a record $1.35 billion in revenues, with $585 million coming from asset management, $571 million from M&A and advisory, and $176 million from restructuring.

Despite strong results from the M&A business — which for completed transactions reflects efforts from the prior year to 18 months — Jacobs said the M&A environment overall was bumpy in 2017 so far.

"The first half was choppy, I would concur with most of my competitors on that," Jacobs told Business Insider. "The larger transactions fell off significantly."

Valuations across industries continue to be "charged," Jacobs added, given the healthy economy, cheap financing, and record amounts of dry powder companies are holding on to.

"It's a good environment but it's not a great environment," he continued. "I think the second half of this year we're likely to see a pick-up in larger transactions."

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Investment bank Lazard is having a record-breaking 2017, despite choppy waters in the mergers and acquisitions market. 

The firm on Tuesday announced record first-half revenues of $1.35 billion, soaring past analyst expectations.

The bulk of Lazard's business comes from asset management and its M&A and advisory business, which pulled in $585 million and $571 million during the first half, respectively. 

But don't overlook the company's restructuring business. The unit is experiencing a resurgence amid the ongoing retail apocalypse, with revenues growing 53% to $176 million in the first half.

The business, which offers advisory services to troubled companies looking to overhaul or clean up their capital structure, has drawn business from a spate of new retail clients over the past year, helping recharge a business that had steadily declined post-financial crisis.

Restructuring brought in a massive $376 million in annual revenues for Lazard amid a turbulent recession in 2009, a figure that has steadily dropped each year after as the economy has improved, reaching a low of $106 million in 2015. 

But the revenues nearly doubled in 2016 to $202 million, primarily stemming from new business from hard-hit oil and gas companies.

Lazard is blazing past that 2016 mark, thanks in part to the unfolding demise of retail. 

"We're seeing a massive amount of disruption in the retail space," Lazard CEO Kenneth Jacobs said during the second-quarter earnings call Thursday. "The theme is really disruption from technology."

Jacobs specifically singled out retail behemoths Amazon and Walmart, which continue to confound traditional stores — especially department stores and supermarkets — with their e-commerce dominance. 

Amazon's $13.7 billion deal for Whole Foods has had a ripple effect across sectors, forcing CEOs across corporate America to wonder whether they are Amazon proof.

Among the clients Lazard is advising on restructuring this year: toy-makers Gymboree and Toys "R" Us, clothing store J. Crew, shoe shop Nine West, and German outdoor apparel company Jack Wolfskin. 

Lazard competitor Ken Moelis, CEO of Moelis & Co., hit on the same theme during an earnings call earlier this week.

"There's a fundamental need to rationalize that people want to get larger to fight online, to fight Amazon in retail specifically," Moelis told investors Monday.

Moelis said that there would be both acquisitions and restructuring activity in the retail sector, though he said he didn't think advising on restructuring in the retail sector would be as big an opportunity as advising on similar work in the energy sector.

Looking forward, Jacobs said the company would also have its eyes on real estate, which could suffer the aftershocks of retailers shutting down.

"As the fortunes of retail change, so does the value of the underlying real estate," Jacobs said. 

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Wall Street investment banks are set to make as much as $90 million in fees from Gilead Sciences' $11.9 billion acquisition of Kite Pharma.

Gilead, the maker of blockbuster hepatitis C and HIV treatments, announced Monday it had acquired the cancer-immunotherapy company at a 29% premium, breaking a long hiatus from major dealmaking.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lazard advised Gilead on the transaction, and they'll split an estimated $30 million to $40 million for their work, according to Jeffrey Nassof, director of consulting firm Freeman & Co.

Kite's bankers will collect $40 million to $50 million, the lion's share going to Centerview Partners and the remainder to Jefferies and Cowen and Company. 

Sources familiar with the transaction told Business Insider that Gilead inked the deal, its first major acquisition since 2011, because it was impressed by Kite's trial data and thought it had a strategic edge over competitors. 

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• Dealmaking is off to a hot start in 2018, with nearly $225 billion in mergers-and-acquisitions volume in January.
• Several ingredients are present that could keep M&A humming along, according to Lazard CEO Ken Jacobs.
• "Confidence levels in the boardrooms among CEOs is as good as I've seen it for a long time," Jacobs told Business Insider

Wall Street firms expected a hot start for mergers and acquisitions in 2018, and that's exactly what unfolded in January.

Many corporate boardrooms were in wait-and-see mode toward the end of 2017 with tax reform hanging in the balance. But with the new law in place at the beginning of the year, and a lot more cash for companies to play around with thanks to the slashed corporate tax rate and repatriation holiday, many analysts suspected a wave of deals was on the horizon.

Here's what materialized:

• Bacardi snapped up Patrón for $5.1 billion.
• Keurig Green Mountain bought Dr. Pepper Snapple for $18.7 billion, the largest soft-drink transaction on record. 
• We saw $20 billion in biotech transactions in a single day.
• And at the end of the month, Blackstone Group paid $17 billion for Thomson Reuters' financial data business. 

In all, there was nearly $225 billion in announced deal volume in January, according to data from Bloomberg, the highest volume for January since 2000.

"I think the clarity around US tax policy removed some of the uncertainty that hindered large-cap M&A business," Ken Jacobs, the CEO of independent investment bank Lazard, told Business Insider. 

Jacobs' firm, which this week reported $1.13 billion in revenue from advising on strategic transactions in 2017, has had a role in several of the top deals of 2018 thus far, including the Bacardi-Patrón tie-up as well as both of French pharma company Sanofi's acquisitions — the $11.6 billion deal for Bioverativ and the $4.1 billion deal for Ablynx.

But is this a temporary boon for M&A, or will 2018 takeovers continue at a torrid pace?

One investment banker that helped engineer one of January's largest megadeals cautioned that it could just be the release of pent up demand — a glut of M&A that was already in the works but was held up as people waited for dust to settle with all the legislative commotion on Capitol hill. 

However, there's ample cause to believe the enthusiasm for dealmaking could continue.

Aside from the bump from tax reform, all the major global economies are growing in sync for the first time since the financial crisis, which also contributes to a favorable environment for dealmaking. 

There are risks that could torpedo the buoyant global markets, such as heightened inflation or a geopolitical flare-up, but Jacobs anticipates global economic growth will persist, even if markets grow more volatile.

"The macro environment feels stable and is likely to stay that way for a while," said Jacobs, who added that the main ingredients are present for a healthy M&A market.

Valuations remain rich in the US, but they're not excessive enough to curb dealmaking, especially given the backdrop of improved earnings, Jacobs noted.

Financing also remains cheap and widely available, and confidence in the corporate boardrooms has surged — both key factors for spurring M&A, according to Jacobs.

"Confidence levels in the boardrooms among CEOs is as good as I've seen it for a long time," he said. 

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Budweiser owner AB InBev has reached an agreement with Miller maker SABMiller to combine forces in the biggest beer deal of the decade.

AB InBev raised its offer for SABMiller to £44 ($67.62) a share, valuing the brewer at £71.2 billion ($109.4 billion).

Combined, the companies would be worth an estimated $275 billion.

The means a lot of work for Wall Street firms who are advising the companies on both sides.

Lazard is the lead advisor to Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Advising SABMiller are JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Robey Warshaw, a 3-year-old, nine-person advisory boutique.

Deutsche Bank is acting as corporate broker.

Here's what we know so far about which bankers are in on the deal:

Lazard

Alexander Hecker

Hecker is co-head of consumer and retail investment banking at independent investment bank Lazard.

He worked on the InBev-Anheuser Busch deal in 2008 in addition to the more recent Warren Buffett-3G Capital acquisition of Heinz. He has also previously worked on AB InBev’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo, and AmBev’s acquisition of Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana.

Hecker has a history of working with 3G Capital, the Brazilian private equity giant behind AB InBev. He also worked with the firm to take Burger King and Playboy Industries private.

Jean Greene

Greene is a managing director at Lazard. She joined the firm in 1999, and has worked on deals involving Tyco, ITT, and Bon-Ton's acquisition of Saks. Before joining Lazard, Greene covered oil and gas companies at Smith Barney.

William Rucker

Rucker is the head of Lazard in London, and is known as one of UK's top advisers. In the past year alone he has worked on transactions involving UK companies Aldermore, Greene King, Quintain Estates and Polyus Gold, according to filings. He often gets involved in cross-border deals with the firm’s New York arm.

Charlie Foreman

Foreman joined Lazard in 2009 from Deutsche Bank, and typically focuses on capital markets transactions. He has also been working on the initial public offering of payment processing company World Pay, which listed in the UK Tuesday morning, making it a busy few days.

Robey Warshaw

Simon Robey

Robey co-heads the London-based boutique with Simon Warshaw. Before founding his boutique advisory firm three years ago, he was head of UK investment banking and co-head of global mergers and acquisitions at Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley.

In addition to being a star dealmaker, he's also a professional standard singer, according to Financial News. He's chairman of the Royal Opera House board.

Simon Warshaw

Warshaw was the head of investment banking at UBS before joining Robey to form their boutique advisory firm.

He also worked on another giant transaction involving a US company and a UK-listed firm, working with Vodafone on the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon. That deal was valued at $130 billion.

JPMorgan

John Muncey

Muncey is head of JPMorgan's corporate finance team in the UK. He joined the bank from UBS. He was a managing director in the European consumer team at that bank.

Muncey has a history of expertise in the liquor and beverage industry. According to the FT, his clients include liquor giant Diageo and UK brewer Scottish and Newcastle, in addition to Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft, and Germany's Tchibo.

Dwayne Lysaght

Lysaght is JPMorgan's head of UK mergers and acquisition.

He has worked on a number of deals involving North American buyers and UK targets. He advised UK insurer Brit on its sale to Canadian peer Fairfax earlier this year, and previously worked with AbbVie on its aborted deal with UK pharmaceutical company Shire.

Morgan Stanley

Henry Stewart

Stewart runs UK and Irish investment banking for Morgan Stanley. He is a specialist in the consumer sector and a longtime adviser to SABMiller.

Paul Baker

Baker is an old-school British banker who heads corporate broking for Morgan Stanley. He assumed that role in 2004. Corporate broking is a practice unique to the UK, where public companies name one or more companies as retained advisers.

Goldman Sachs

Gilberto Pozzi

London-based Pozzi is a consumer sector specialist and was promoted earlier this year from his role as head of M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to global cohead of mergers and acquisitions. He joined Goldman in 1995 as an associate, and made partner in 2008. He has previously worked on deals for Unilever, Kraft Foods and Jimmy Choo.

Mark Sorrell

Sorrell is cohead of UK investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and is known as an excellent M&A technician. His father, Martin, is the chief executive of advertising giant WPP, while his two brothers also worked at Goldman Sachs for a period. Jonathan Sorrell is now chief financial officer at hedge fund man Group, while Robert Sorrell joined Moelis & Co in London last year.

Deutsche Bank

Ben Lawrence

Lawrence has worked on deals involving Shire, BTG, DP World, and Hammerson.

Simon Hollingsworth

Hollingsworth is a vice-president at Deutsche Bank. He joined the firm in June from Credit Suisse.

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