Bank of America emerged as the top financial adviser for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the global retail sector for 2020, having advised on 17 deals worth US$40.6bn. A total of 1,971 M&A deals were announced in the sector during 2020, marking a 42.5% decrease over the 3,430 deals announced in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Retail M&A Report Financial Adviser League Tables 2020’, deal value decreased by 46.5% from US$308bn in 2019 to US$165bn in 2020.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Bank of America was the only adviser that managed to cross the US$40bn mark. The firm advised on seven billion-dollar deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn including a mega deal (valued more than or equal to US$10bn). Involvement in such high value transactions and advising on double-digit deal volume helped the firm to occupy the top spot.”

Despite Morgan Stanley also advising on the same number of deals, it lost the top position by value due to its involvement in less high-value transactions. The firm advised on deals worth US$21.4bn, including five deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn, but lacked any mega deal.

Barclays occupied the second position in GlobalData’s ranking of financial advisers for M&As in the global retail sector by value with seven deals worth US$32.8bn, followed by Goldman Sachs with 16 deals worth US$28.2bn and JP Morgan with eight deals worth US$22bn.

Goldman Sachs occupied the third position in terms of volume, followed by Ernst & Young with 11 deals worth US$4.1bn.