Why would Merrill Lynch wish to dispose of its money management business? Under the direction of Stan O'Neal, its no-nonsense chairman and chief executive, Merrill has been turned on a sixpence and transformed into one of the most profitable companies in the financial services industry.

"Mother Merrill" has been packed off to a retirement home in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a number of other sacred cows laid to rest. If Charlie Merrill and friends who formed Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith were alive today, they would probably not recognise the firm.