We've been talking lately about the decline of the deal kingpins. But Merck's $41.1 billion purchase of Schering-Plough suggests that the deal advisory business is anything but dead. In fact, it may be looking pretty good for the likes of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. Bloomberg reports that the three banks may share as much as $146 million for their work on the deal.

True, the pace of deals is slow. But it's also true that a lot of companies are pondering their options in a punishing environment, and we may see an uptick in transactions. The financial sponsors are out of the way, so the bankers, the ones who remain at the top banks anyway may be in a good position. Getting paid at the end of the year will be the tricky part. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
The biggest deal makers on Wall Street?
Private equity deals of the year
Microsoft-Yahoo: Investment bank bonanza
Private equity firms to invest in smaller deals