Goldman Sachs has dominated the latest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) league table of the top 10 financial advisers for the automotive sector based on deal value in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The American investment bank advised on nine deals, which were worth a combined US$11.9bn. According to GlobalData, which tracks all M&A, private equity/venture capital and asset transaction activity around the world to compile the league tables, Lazard trailed Goldman Sachs with nine deals worth US$9.4bn. With four deals valued at US$9.0bn, JP Morgan stood at third position.

Ravi Tokala, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, says: “The slow trend in M&A activities in the automotive sector continued in 2019, witnessing a major drop in overall deal value as compared with the same period last year. ZF Friedrichshafen’s acquisition of Wabco Holdings for US$7.4bn was instrumental in determining the rankings in the automotive sector. The top four financial and legal advisers were involved in this transaction.”

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Global automotive deals market in 2019

The automotive sector saw a 34.03% drop in deal value from US$58.2bn in 2018 to US$38.4bn in 2019. However, deal volume witnessed a 33.65% surge from 425 to 568.

Goldman Sachs, which topped the automotive league table of M&A financial advisers, stood at top position in GlobalData’s recently released global league table of top 20 M&A financial advisers.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton tops list of top 10 M&A legal advisers

Law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton led the chart of top 10 legal advisers in 2019. The company advised on four deals worth US$7.9bn. Although Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance advised on deals worth US$7.7bn, the former gained an edge in terms of volume. Latham & Watkins provided legal services to five deals while Clifford Chance worked on three deals.

In the global league table of top M&A 20 legal advisers, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton was at fourth position. Latham & Watkins stood at sixth position while Clifford Chance stood at sixteenth position.