1.   American investors said they were deceived into investing in the risky underwriting business.

2.   An investigation by Massachusetts Inspector General Robert Cerasoli concluded that Merrill Lynch thought that by hiring Ferber it would gain more underwriting business from the MWRA.

3.   Arranging IPOs is the most lucrative underwriting business, with fees almost double those for secondary offerings.

4.   BankAmerica, like other commercial banks, wants to get into the stock underwriting business to provide companies with a full menu of financing services.

5.   Bankers Trust is trying to build a stock underwriting business, and traders say the bank wants to buy Alex.

6.   Banc One Corp. would rather buy retail brokerage and stock underwriting businesses than building them from scratch.

7.   BankAmerica has long had an interest in getting into the equity underwriting business.

8.   Bankers Trust is trying to build a stock underwriting business, and investors say the bank wants to buy Alex.

9.   Brown was thought to be in the sights of other firms or banks looking to expand their stock underwriting businesses.

10.   Chase is on the hunt for Wall Street bankers to build up its U.S. bond trading and underwriting business and create a stock underwriting business from scratch.