So, who says boutiques are struggling? Perella Weinberg Partners "scored one of the biggest coups since the investment bank's founding five years ago by serving as the main financial adviser to NYSE Euronext on its planned merger with Deutsche Bourse," Bloomberg reports.

It was, in fact, the sole advisor until just recently, and it will likely be "entitled to a huge chunk of the fees" the NYSE will pay, assuming a deal is consummated. Total fees may run to $25 million. That's a big haul in this era of smaller deals.

Just recently, NYSE added BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as financial advisers. As for Deutsche Bourse, it is being advised by Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase.

As usual, relationships drove the NYSE arrangements. Perella Weinberg Partners co-founder Peter Weinberg and colleague Andrew Bednar worked at Goldman, as did NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer. Weinberg, Bednar and Dietrich Becker, another Perella Weinberg banker, are advising NYSE, notes Bloomberg.

This is certainly a strong indication that the expected deal revival is indeed brewing. A competing bid would certainly send an even stronger message.

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