GUS, the UK retail group, has chosen only Merrill Lynch to lead the sale of £185m (€263m) worth of its Burberry shares, despite last year's flotation of the fashion house being led by both Merrill and Morgan Stanley.

Merrill is sole global co-ordinator and bookrunner of the placing of 50 million Burberry shares with Morgan Stanley acting as co-lead manager. In last year's initial public offering, the two banks were joint global co-ordinators and bookrunnners.