Investment banks scrambled today to secure a mandate from Electrabel, Belgium's largest electricity generator and the subject of an €11.4bn ($14.1bn) cash-and-shares bid from Suez, the French water and energy group.

The deal has already propelled Morgan Stanley, co-adviser to Suez with Rothschild and Calyon, to the top of the French mergers and acquisitions rankings at the expense of BNP Paribas, according to Thomson Financial, the data provider.