Goldman Sachs and PwC were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in Europe for H1 2021 by value and volume, respectively. Goldman Sachs advised on 60 deals worth $168.8bn, which was the highest value among all advisers. Meanwhile, PwC led in volume terms having advised on 132 deals worth $23.3bn. A total of 5,722 M&A deals were announced in the region during H1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Europe M&A Report Financial Adviser League Tables H1 2021’, deal value increased by 51% from $336bn in H1 2020 to $507bn in H1 2021 in the region.

Ravi Tokala, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “PwC held the top spot in terms of deal volume but lagged behind many of its peers in terms of value – not even making the top ten.

“Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs, which advised on a relatively lower number of deals, managed to top the list by value due to being involved in some big-ticket deals. The firm advised on 31 deals worth greater than or equal to $1bn, including three megadeals valued more than $10bn.”

JP Morgan occupied the second position in terms of value with 61 deals worth $158.1bn followed by Morgan Stanley with 33 deals worth $111bn and Citi with 41 deals worth $102.5bn.

Rothschild & Co occupied the second position by volume with 131 deals worth $68.9bn followed by Ernst & Young with 99 deals worth $5.3bn and KPMG with 95 deals worth $13.5bn.