Eight investment banks hired to advise Anglo-Australian miner’s BHP Billiton's $66bn (€51bn) hostile takeover bid for Rio Tinto today lost over a $100m in potential fees in the largest transaction ever to be withdrawn.

Data from Thomson Reuters/Freeman & Co suggest the total fee pool for the deal is over $300m, with $140m of the total going to advisers to acquirer BHP Billiton and $162bn for defence advisers to Rio Tinto.