Blue-blood power

Chase Manhattan's $34 billion acquisition of J.P. Morgan will combine the bio banking and research stables of the former Hambrecht & Quist (now Chase H&Q) with J.P. Morgan. While the eventual strength of the combined health care franchise will play out over the coming months, the two banks have posted some impressive IPO underwriting activity this year. Combined, the banks have been involved in 21 IPOs that have raised more than $2 billion - 36 percent of the $6.15 billion raised in global IPOs this year, and a 73 percent of the $4.47 billion raised in U.S. IPOs. "The combination would create the biggest provider of equity, debt and financial advisory services to the biotech industry," said Chase H&Q banker Vivek Jain.

Chase H&Q has been carrying the bulk of the load, as it has been involved in 18 deals compared with J.P. Morgan's five. Two deals - Large Scale Biology (LSBC) and Paradigm (PDGM) - had each bank on the syndicate...