Merrill Lynch and RBC Capital Markets have stormed up the global mining deal league tables after advising gold miner Barrick Gold on a $9.2bn (€11bn) hostile bid for rival Placer Dome.

The deal takes RBC Capital Markets to the top of the global mining league table for the year to date, ahead of Goldman Sachs. Merrill Lynch moves to fifth place from outside the top ten, according to Dealogic, the investment banking research provider.