Mergers and acquisitions are far from dead. Investment bankers, the ones that are still employed anyway, have plenty to do. In fact, we're seeing some interesting market-share dynamics at work. Bloomberg notes that Pfizer's purchase of Wyeth was a big win for Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan (both advised Pfizer) and Morgan Stanley (who advised Wyeth). Collectively, the new big three garnered 36 percent of the market so far in 2009, up from 24 percent last year.

In a sense, this goes against the conventional wisdom that boutique bankers were poised to make big gains against the bulge bracket. It's not really happening. Bloomberg notes that the big three's gains came at the expense of UBS and smaller firms like Greenhill, Lazard and Gleacher. I think this will continue. Now would be a good time to pitch some strategic deals, but it will occur against a backdrop of a shrinking pie. At some point, the overall market may expand again. 

For more:
- here's the Bloomberg article

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