You would have thought that Google's agreement to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion--a blockbuster by today's standards--would be great news for the top Wall Street banks. But at the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, there isn't a lot of celebrating going on. Instead, it's the bankers at  various boutiques that are popping the Champagne corks.

Reuters notes that Motorola hired Centerview Partners and Qatalyst Partners as its top advisers on a deal expected to generate $30 million to $35 million in advisory fees.  Centerview was founded in 2006 by former bankers at Morgan Stanley and UBS. As for Qatalyst, it is the brainchild of the famed Frank Quattrone, who reigned over Silicon Valley in the dotcom era. Google's top dog on the deal was Lazard, the firm founded by the late dealmaking whiz Bruce Wasserstein.

Advisory fees for the firm could hit the $32 million mark, by one estimate. What's really interesting here is that Google seems to have little use for Morgan Stanley as an advisor, which is disappointing for the bank because it really jumped through hoops to lead the Google IPO way back when. Recall that it ended up being the largest Dutch auction ever, which may not be a whole lot brag about. Morgan Stanley has topped the tables in advisory this year, so it's absence on the deal is a curiosity.

For more:
- here's the article

Related articles:
Ex-Morgan Stanley exec oversees Google hardware manufacturing  
Google bets on KKR's First Data