Interest rate derivatives house of the year - Goldman Sachs

The Risk Awards 2007

Rarely a day seems to go by without yet another bumper-sized merger and acquisition (M&A) deal coming to light. Fuelled by low interest rates and tight credit spreads, listed and private equity buyers have been snapping up companies in the US, Europe and Asia at a pace not seen since the dotcom bubble earlier this decade. Rating agency Standard & Poor's reckons that M&A volumes in Europe will reach EUR1.3 trillion in 2006 - and this could be eclipsed in 2007.

The super-charged M&A market has