US investment banking boutique Moelis is braced for a multi-billion pound M&A league table boost after Hutchison Whampoa entered into exclusive talks to buy Telefónica’s British mobile unit 02.

Hutchison Whampoa, owned by Asian billionaire tycoon Li Ka-shing, will pay an initial £9.25 billion in cash for O2 and may pay an additional £1 billion depending on performance, the company said in a statement Friday. It added that the exclusive negotiations could last a period of "several weeks".