The $18.3bn (€14.8bn) cash-and-shares takeover by oil giant Chevron of US rival Unocal has maintained the US mergers and acquisitions league table rankings on a knife edge. Just under $3bn of deal value now separates top placed bank Morgan Stanley from Goldman Sachs.

Morgan Stanley, adviser to Unocal, now boasts $220bn worth of deals, according to Dealogic, the investment banking information provider.