Then with the talk of European merger, there's a determination to be more traditionally British.

Rothschild ranked first in 2002 for European mergers and acquisitions, up from 11th place the year before.

But he said the need for increased efficiency and competition made some cross-border European mergers necessary.

Swiss Re has predicted that European mergers and acquisitions would pick up over the next several years, in part because of new regulatory and accounting requirements.

In dollars, the value of European mergers jumped to $484 billion in 1997, from about $170 billion in 1994.

None of them has commented, but all could benefit from adding Warburg's strength in fund management and in the European merger and privatization business.

Collectively, he noted, companies involved in this year's 10 largest European mergers have underperformed the overall European stock market by about 4 percent.

The value of European mergers hit a record pace in 1999, exceeding that of United States mergers for the first time.

His practice areas are European mergers & acquisitions, project finance and capital markets work.

But Pentagon officials have been quietly encouraging European mergers, in the hope of standardizing the military industry on both sides of the Atlantic.