Financial advisers Goldman Sachs and Bank of America were noted to be the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the global retail sector in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Goldman Sachs advised on six deals worth US$20.56bn, which was the highest among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Bank of America led in volume terms having advised on seven deals worth US$9.67bn during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Barclays occupied the second position by value with three deals worth US$12.58bn followed by JP Morgan with three deals worth US$12.55bn. Goldman Sachs occupied the second position by volume followed by Citi with six deals worth US$2.66bn, according to GlobalData.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The deal activity remained subdued in volume terms in the retail sector and none of the advisers managed to showcase double-digit deal volume. However, despite the turmoil brought in by the COVID-19 outbreak and declines in deal volume, the retail sector witnessed announcement of big-ticket deals such as Charoen Pokphand Group’s acquisition of Tesco’s operations in Thailand and Malaysia for US$10.6bn. This mega-deal saw involvement of all top seven firms by value. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs also advised on two additional deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn, thereby managing to occupy the top spot.”

The number of deals announced in the global retail sector decreased by 20.26% from 1,239 in H1 2019 to 988 in H1 2020, according to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database. Despite decline in volume, deal value increased by 7.96% from US$45.97bn in H1 2019 to US$49.63bn in H1 2020.

Goldman Sachs, which topped the retail sector deals league table by value, also stood at the top position (by value) in the recently released global league table of top 20 M&A financial advisers by GlobalData. Similarly, Bank of America, which topped the retail sector league table by volume, occupied the seventh position (by volume) in the global league table.