Merrill Lynch secured a late role advising GUS, the UK retail group, on its £900m (€1.4bn) acquisition of Homebase, the UK do-it-yourself group.

Cazenove, broker to GUS, is also involved in the deal. A source close to the deal said that GUS did not use its advisers for the initial stages of the negotiations, and only brought them on board last week to sort out the final details.