M & A advisors - update

In an earlier post I detailed how to play an M & A boom by investing in investment banks that are also large M & A advisors.

There will be another one to play with soon - Lazard announced its intention to go public. While not as large as others I listed, they are likely to be priced attractively. Barring a pop, I suggest buying a few shares during the early weeks before they start getting attention from analysts.

So far, Goldman Sachs (GS) seems to be the one benefiting the most from the M & A surge. Just look at the number of ways they profited from the NYSE - Archipelago deal. At last count that was 3! They advised both NYSE and Archipelago and they also owned a nice chunk of Archipelago having taken them public just a few months ago!