Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey have emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers by value and volume during Q1-Q3 2025 in the latest Financial Advisers League Table by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that Goldman Sachs achieved the leading position in terms of deal value by advising on $432.3 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 240 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Interestingly, both Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey were also the top advisers by value and volume during Q1-Q3 2024. In fact, Houlihan Lokey outpaced its peers by a big margin in terms of volume as it was the only adviser with more than 200 deals during Q1-Q3 2025.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs led by value but faced close competition from JP Morgan. The investment banks had their own notable share of involvement in big-ticket deals. During Q1-Q3 2025, JP Morgan advised on 79 billion-dollar deals* of worth around $411 billion while Goldman Sachs advised on 84 billion-dollar deals worth around $419 billion.”

JP Morgan occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $426.8 billion worth of deals followed by Morgan Stanley with $389 billion, Citi with $273.7 billion and Bank of America with $256.5 billion.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan occupied the second position in terms of volume by advising on 161 deals followed by Goldman Sachs with 159 deals, Rothschild & Co with 121 deals and Ernst & Young with 118 deals.

*Deals valued ≥ $1 billion