Five investment banks have won advisory mandates in Japan's first hostile banking takeover and the biggest corporate fight in the country's history. The winner would create the world's largest bank, dethroning Citigroup of the US.

Goldman Sachs is advising Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Japan's second largest bank, which sparked the battle on Tuesday with an unsolicited $29bn (€24bn) offer for UFJ Holdings, which ranks the country's fourth.