Goldman Sachs and Rothschild & Co were the top financial advisers for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Europe by value and volume, respectively, for Q1-Q3 2020. A total of 6,245 M&A deals were announced in Europe during the period, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s M&A report, ‘Global & Europe M&A Review & Financial Adviser League tables’, there was a 19.9% decrease over 7,792 deals during the same period in 2019. Deal value also decreased by 14.8% from $575bn in Q1-Q3 2019 to $490bn in Q1-Q3 2020.

In GlobalData’s ranking, Goldman Sachs advised on 53 deals worth $148.4bn – the highest value among all advisers. Meanwhile, Rothschild & Co led in terms of volume, having advised on 125 deals worth $78bn

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Rothschild & Co, despite advising on more than double the number of deals advised by Goldman Sachs, lost out on the top position by value.

“Goldman Sachs advised on a lower number of deals, but the average deal value stood at $2.8bn – as compared with Rothschild & Co’s average value of $624m. Goldman Sachs advised on 23 deals worth greater than or equal to $1bn, while Rothschild & Co advised on 14 billion-dollar deals.”

Morgan Stanley occupied the second position by value with 39 deals worth $92.4bn, followed by JP Morgan with 45 deals worth $90bn, and Bank of America with 32 deals worth $83.1bn.

Aurojyoti continues: “PwC occupied the second position by volume with 112 deals worth $13.8bn, followed by Ernst & Young with 111 deals worth $7.2bn and KPMG with 80 deals worth $6.7bn. Surprisingly, five of the top advisers by volume (which also includes Ernst & Young and KPMG) failed to even cross the US$10bn mark during Q1-Q3 2020.

“Goldman Sachs and PwC occupied the top position by value and volume in key European market, the UK.”