By Dana Cimilluca And Gillian Tan 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has cemented its position as the top Wall Street bank for mergers and acquisitions in one of the busiest years in the business.

The New York bank, whose name is synonymous with deal making, this week landed roles on two big acquisitions worth a combined $100 billion: Actavis PLC's $66 billion agreement to buy Allergan Inc. and Halliburton Co.'s $34.6 billion planned purchase of Baker Hughes Inc.

The deals will help the Wall Street firm widen its lead in the lucrative and competitive merger business over perennial rival Morgan Stanley, which isn't involved in either transaction. It will also secure for Goldman a significant chunk of the advisory-fee bonanza the two takeovers are expected to generate. Research firm Dealogic estimates those fees could add up to as much as $300 million for the banks.

Goldman's surge comes at an opportune time. Companies are striking deals at a pace unseen since the onset of the financial crisis. The Allergan and Baker Hughes deals brought the total value of mergers struck world-wide this year to $3.1 trillion, more than in any full year since 2007. Goldman this year has reaped $1.7 billion from advising on deals at a time when other Wall Street businesses, such as bond trading, are sputtering.

It also shows that, after years of turmoil and upheaval on Wall Street, some things, such Goldman's dominant position in deals, haven't changed much. Goldman has advised this year on $935 billion of merger-and-acquisition announcements and proposals world-wide.

Bank of America Corp. also landed a role on both deals. The mergers were both announced Monday, one of the biggest days for deals in years.

The sheer size of the takeovers underscored the strength of the merger market, which came to life earlier this year after a prolonged period in the doldrums following the financial crisis. Some bankers and lawyers were concerned that a bout of market volatility in October would bring the surge to an end, but Monday's developments, which followed a snapback in the stock market, put those fears to rest.

To be sure, banks typically get the bulk of their merger fees once deals close, and there is no guarantee that either of Monday's marriages will come to fruition. There is a chance that antitrust regulators could reject Halliburton's planned purchase of Baker Hughes, the second- and third-largest oil-field-services companies in the world, respectively, analysts said.

Not everyone was in a position to celebrate Monday.

In sealing an agreement with Allergan, Actavis appears to have won a takeover tussle for the Botox maker with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which had launched a hostile bid for the company earlier this year in tandem with activist investor William Ackman. Morgan Stanley, after seeking unsuccessfully to advise Allergan, landed a role with Valeant. With Valeant signaling that it is unlikely to press its offer, Morgan Stanley is likely to miss out on fees and credit for advising on the purchase of Allergan, the biggest deal of the year so far.

Removing Valeant-Allergan from consideration, Morgan Stanley would fall to No. 3 behind J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in the rankings of advisers on announced takeover deals world-wide, according to Dealogic.

The divergent fortunes this week of Goldman and Morgan Stanley show both the risks and rewards of the highly lucrative but also hit-or-miss deals business. In addition to advisory fees, companies doing takeover deals often pay banks even more for loans to fund them. Wall Street firms also see merger and acquisitions as a powerful brand builder that can lead to other business such as bond underwriting and risk-management services.

In addition to Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada and Barclays PLC had lined up with Valeant. They were among seven firms that stood to earn more than $500 million from providing the drug maker with more than $20 billion to finance its intended stock-and-cash acquisition of Allergan, according to people familiar with the matter. Barclays and RBC were each set to provide 23% of the total debt package, with each of the five others providing 10.8%, according to filings.

The bank that will likely get a large share of financing fees for a takeover of Allergan instead is J.P. Morgan, which is helping fund the roughly 60% of the deal that will be paid for with cash, according to a statement from Actavis on Monday. The Wall Street bank is also Actavis's sole adviser on the transaction.

J.P. Morgan, Goldman and Bank of America are expected to share fees of between $160 million and $180 million for advising on the deal, according to SHYDealogic estimates. If Goldman's payday in another recent deal that shares some characteristics with Actavis-Allergan is any guide, it could be set for an outsize payday for its work for Allergan.

Goldman is set to earn more than $47 million for advising Tibco Software Inc. on its pending $4 billion sale to Vista Equity Partners, according to a securities filing. Goldman helped defend Tibco against a shareholder activist and ran an auction for the software maker.

The other big winner from Monday's deal-making binge: Credit Suisse Group AG, which was the lead financial adviser to Halliburton on a deal that Dealogic estimates will generate fees of $100 million to $120 million.

Credit Suisse also took the unusual step of advising Mr. Ackman on Valeant's bid for Allergan. While Valeant is likely to walk away from Allergan, Mr. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP made more than $2 billion on paper on its nearly 10% Allergan stake. It isn't clear what compensation agreement Credit Suisse struck with Pershing Square.

Write to Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com and Gillian Tan at gillian.tan@wsj.com

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