THE BIGGEST
DEALS OF 1997

	Introduction		Biggest Stock Offerings
	Biggest Mergers and Acquisitions		Biggest Contracts
	Biggest Real Estate Deals		Biggest Bond Issues

Nineteen ninety-seven was a banner deal-making year for Wall Street -- and Main Street, too. We noted some of the biggest transactions in the pages of Virginia Business during the past year. But after surveying the results of our Biggest Deals of 1997 in five different categories, even we were surprised by the magnitude of the wheeling and dealing taking place in the Old Dominion.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Norfolk Southern's bond issue, floated to fund its part of a joint acquisition of Conrail, was the largest corporate bond offering in the country last year. CSX, which joined Norfolk Southern in taking over the Northeastern railroad system, was close behind with a bond issue of its own.
• James River Corp.'s merger with Fort Howard, creating Fort James, was one of the nation's biggest merger-and-acquisition deals last year. Sadly, the transaction resulted in the near total transfer of corporate power out of Richmond to new executive headquarters in Chicago.
• Last year was a record year for initial public offerings in Virginia, ranked by the number of companies taken public and the amount of capital raised.
• McLean-based Booz Allen & Hamilton has turned management consulting into truly big business, snagging three of the 10 largest contracts in Virginia last year, all with the federal government.
• The big money in real estate is concentrated in Northern Virginia, home to all of the 10 largest real estate deals in the commonwealth. No surprise, because of high property values there, but we'd hoped for a little more diversity.

Our ground rules were simple: It was not sufficient for a deal to be announced in 1997 to be included in our list, it had to close in 1997. Otherwise, we've included every deal we could identify. If we missed someone, accept our apology. No one else compiles such lists, and what follows is our first attempt -- a more comprehensive look at our monthly "For the Record" listings.

Is there something we overlooked? Another category you wish we'd tackled? Too much detail? Not enough detail? Let us know.

-- The Editors