Goldman Sachs and Ernst & Young (EY) were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the UK in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Goldman Sachs advised on 13 deals worth US$58.3bn, which was the highest among all the advisers. Meanwhile, EY led in volume terms having advised on 27 deals worth US$2.2bn during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Goldman Sachs emerged as the top financial adviser in H1 2020 despite advising on relatively fewer deals due to its involvement in big-ticket deals including two megadeals worth greater than or equal to US$10bn. EY, on the other hand, held the top spot in terms of deal volume but lagged behind many of its peers in terms of deal value. Surprisingly, it did not feature among the top ten advisers by value

Morgan Stanley occupied second position by value with 10 deals worth US$54.9bn, followed by Bank of America with 11 deals worth US$39.1bn. Rothschild & Co occupied second position by volume with 21 deals worth US$23.3bn, followed by KPMG with 21 deals worth US$337.5m.

Goldman Sachs, which topped the US deals league table by value, stood at the top position (by value) in GlobalData’s recently released global league table of top 20 M&A financial advisers. Similarly, EY, which topped the US league table by volume, also occupied the top position (by volume) in the global league table.