JP Morgan was the top financial adviser for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals by both deal value and volume for H1 2021, having advised on 257 deals worth US$633.3bn, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Goldman Sachs occupied the second position by both deal value and volume with 252 deals worth US$616bn.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “There was close competition between JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs for the top position as these were the only two firms that managed to advise on more than 250 deals, while also surpassing the US$500bn mark. Interestingly, both JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs also advised on more than 100 deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn.

“However, JP Morgan edged past Goldman Sachs due to its involvement in megadeals (valued greater than or equal to US$10bn). While JP Morgan managed to advise on 12 megadeals, Goldman Sachs advised on 11 such deals and lost the top position to the former by a whisker.”

Morgan Stanley occupied the third position by value with 160 deals worth US$393.4bn, followed by Bank of America with 116 deals worth US$290bn and Barclays with 136 deals worth US$269.2bn.

Rothschild & Co occupied the third position by volume with 197 deals worth US$100.4bn, followed by PwC with 187 deals worth US$32.6bn. Morgan Stanley occupied the fifth position by volume.