NEW YORK - Occidental Petroleum boss Vicki Hollub really wants to buy rival oil driller Anadarko Petroleum. And her Wall Street adviser, Bank of America boss Brian Moynihan, is right there behind her. He personally called in one of his own shareholders, Warren Buffett, to help finance Occidental’s $38 billion hostile offer a little over a week ago. The lender’s investment bank has been losing ground for a decade, so it’s understandable that Moynihan is keen to help.

Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch just over 10 years ago, creating a business that on paper would have boasted the biggest share of global investment-banking fees, according to Refinitiv data, at nearly 9 percent. The bank has steadily lost market share since, and last year trailed Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. In terms of advising on announced mergers, Bank of America was the No. 2 consigliere in 2014 – this year so far, it’s sixth. If a rival bid for Anadarko from oil major Chevron prevails over Occidental’s, it would fall to seventh, behind Credit Suisse .

That might seem like a minor irritation. Advising on deals makes little impact on America’s largest deposit-taker – its entire investment-banking fees contributed just under 6 percent of revenue in 2018. Closing deals offers significant kudos, though, and often the opportunity to make money on big financing packages. Oxy is likely to need $26 billion of debt to back its Anadarko bid, including refinancing the target’s own borrowings.

Moreover, it’s hard to attract first-rate bankers to a second-rate bank. Matthew Koder, who took over Bank of America’s investment bank last year, has set out to hire up to 70 dealmakers, push into smaller-sized transactions and get the firm back into the top three. A lender with so many U.S. corporate customers ought to be more of force to be reckoned with in investment banking. Lubricating Oxy’s audacious takeover of Anadarko would help show that’s not a far-fetched idea.

CONTEXT NEWS

- Bank of America and Citigroup are advising Occidental Petroleum on its $38 billion bid for rival U.S. oil driller Anadarko Petroleum. The board of Anadarko declared Occidental’s bid to be superior to a $33 billion offer from Chevron on May 6.

- Brian Moynihan, chief executive of Bank of America, called Berkshire Hathaway boss Warren Buffett to request his help financing Occidental’s bid, Buffett told his own shareholders at the investment firm’s annual meeting on May 4.

- Bank of America is sixth in terms of advisors on announced mergers in 2019 to date, according to Refinitiv data, which includes the $54 billion value of Occidental’s bid including Anadarko’s net debt.

(Editing by Antony Currie and Amanda Gomez)

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