The recruitment of two bankers from Credit Suisse First Boston has helped Banc of America Securities secure its first mergers and acquisitions mandate from Yahoo, the internet search engine.

Banc of America was sole adviser on Yahoo's $1bn (€815m) acquisition of 40% of Alibaba.com, a Chinese internet company. The US bank was a co-manager of Yahoo's initial public offering in 1999, which was led by Goldman Sachs, but until this deal it had not advised on any M&A transactions.