BOUTIQUE BLOWOUT: Small banks win big on Merger Thursday

Thursday was a huge day for deal makers - especially those at smaller boutique shops.

Four big transactions were announced, including Abbott Labs' $25 billion deal for St. Jude Medical, AbbVie's $5.8 billion deal for Stemcentrx, Sanofi's unsolicited $9.3 billion bid for Medivation, and NBCUniversal's $3.8 billion deal for DreamWorks.

Among the banks that can expect big winnings in fees are Evercore, Guggenheim Securities, and Centerview Partners.

Morgan Stanley also had a big day, advising both Stemcentrx and Sanofi.

Here's the breakdown of advisers, with the independent advisory shops highlighted:

• Abbott: Evercore (lead adviser) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• St. Jude: Guggenheim Securities

• Stemcentrx: Morgan Stanley

• Sanofi: Morgan Stanley
• Medivation: Evercore and JPMorgan

• DreamWorks: Centerview Partners

Boutique banks have been taking big deals from their larger rivals in the last couple of years. Three boutiques - Evercore, Centerview, and Moelis - ranked in the top 15 banks for global M&A revenue in the first quarter.

Moelis, for its part, just reported a killer first quarter, with record revenues, up 27% from last year.

Evercore lists around 80 senior managing directors (MD) in corporate advisory globally on its website. At Centerview, meanwhile, there are 30 partners listed on the website.

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