Business Notes FINANCIERS

When Financial World magazine published its annual list of Wall Street's 100 highest earners last week, no one was surprised to see junk-bond pioneer Michael Milken on top (1988 income: at least $180 million) and leveraged- buyout king Henry Kravis ($110 million) in third place. But who was this in the No. 2 position? A relatively unknown dealmaker named Gordon Cain, 77, took that spot by earning an estimated $120 million last year through his Houston LBO firm, Sterling Group.

Cain's rise began in 1987 when his company added to its string of petrochemical plants, buying at bargain prices. Sterling and its partners gambled $1 billion on these plants, which were assembled into a single firm known as Cain Chemical. Last year Sterling sold the package to Occidental Petroleum in a deal that was valued at $2.2 billion. Cain shared his bounty ! with some 1,350 employees, who took home a total of $537 million.