Citi and PwC were noted to be the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the global consumer goods sector in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Citi advised on six deals worth US$16.8bn, which was the highest among all the advisers. Meanwhile, PwC led in volume terms having advised on 17 deals worth US$540.5m during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “PwC held the top spot in terms of deal volume but fell behind many of its peers in terms of value –  it did not even make it to the top ten by value. The majority of the firms in the top ten list by volume also lagged behind in terms of value with only three – Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse – able to make it to the list of top ten advisers by value. On the other hand, total deal value for three – PwC, Rothschild & Co and KPMG – of the top ten by volume added up to less than US$1bn each.

“Meanwhile, Rockefeller Capital Management managed to make it to the top ten list by value with only one deal, while only two of the top ten (by value) managed to register double-digit deal volume. It seems that advising on fewer but higher-value deals seems enough to rank highly right now.”

Goldman Sachs occupied second position by value with 16 deals worth US$16.6bn, followed by Morgan Stanley with ten deals worth US$16.5bn. Goldman Sachs also occupied second position by volume, followed by Ernst & Young with 16 deals worth US$2.4bn.

The number of deals announced in the global consumer goods sector decreased by 24.3% from 2,588 in H1 2019 to 1,959 in H1 2020, according to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database. Deal value decreased by 49% from US$144.5bn in H1 2019 to US$73.7bn in H1 2020.

Citi, which topped the consumer goods sector deals league table by value, stood at fifth position (by value) in GlobalData’s recently released global league table of top 20 M&A financial advisers. Similarly, PwC, which topped the consumer goods sector league table by volume, also occupied fifth position (by volume) in the global league table.