Goldman Top Mid-Atlantic Deal Adviser

In the Middle Atlantic Region - a hotbed of bank mergers in 1995 - Goldman, Sachs & Co. topped the advisory charts.

Goldman advised on five deals in the area for a total of over $23.5 billion in bank mergers and advisory work. The area includes Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

On the biggest deal of the year, Chemical Banking Corp.'s $11.34 billion purchase of Chase Manhattan, Goldman and James D. Wolfensohn advised Chase.

Wolfensohn's role in that deal placed it third in the advisory rankings.

Ranking a close second with a total of $22.3 billion from five deals, Morgan Stanley & Co. advised Chemical.

Goldman and Morgan Stanley advised First Fidelity in its $5.4 billion sale to First Union Corp. Lazard Freres & Co. advised First Union, and ranked fifth in the region on the size of that deal alone.

Another seller, National Westminster Bancorp, chose Goldman as its adviser in a $3.26 billion sale to Fleet Financial Group.

Merrill Lynch ranked fourth with five deals, including advising Fleet in its purchase of Natwest, and advising Midlantic in its sale to PNC Bank Corp.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman teamed up with Lehman as advisers to Meridian Bancorp in its $3.19 billion sale to CoreStates Financial Corp.

J.P. Morgan & Co. and Keefe Bruyette and Woods advised CoreStates in that merger.

While Keefe ranked sixth in the region, they led seven bank deals, the most among advisers in the Mid-Atlantic.

J.P. Morgan's position in the CoreStates deal placed it ninth.