The firm advised on 8 of the top 10 announced worldwide merger and acquisition deals, according to Thomson Financial.

"Will it succeed as a worldwide merger, or will the foreign offices go elsewhere?"

On 1 July 1998 the worldwide merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand created the current PricewaterhouseCoopers.

As senior vice president, Corporate Business Development, he led all business development efforts, including worldwide mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and identification of strategic growth opportunities.

Last year, 45 percent of the $1.58 trillion of worldwide mergers and acquisitions were outside North America, according to J. P. Morgan.

Mr. Wiggins, 49, has been named to the new position of vice chairman at Foote, Cone, responsible for worldwide mergers and acquisitions; he will remain in New York.

IDD reported that worldwide merger and acquisition activity fell by 8.3 percent last year from 1988, if the record-setting leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco Inc. is omitted.

It ranked third among advisers on worldwide mergers announced during the first quarter, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data, compared with seventh a year ago.

He was Blackstone's vice chairman and ran its worldwide mergers and acquisition business.

Goldman, Sachs was the top financial adviser for announced worldwide mergers and acquisitions in 2000, according to figures from Thomson Financial Securities.