Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey have emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers by value and volume during the first half (H1) of 2026 in the latest Financial Advisers League Table by GlobalData, which ranks financial advisers by the value and volume of M&A deals on which they advised.

Based on its Financial Deals Database, the leading intelligence and productivity platform has revealed that Goldman Sachs achieved the top position in the deal value rankings by advising on $597.4 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 152 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Houlihan Lokey was the top adviser by volume in H1 2025 and managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in H1 2026 as well.

“Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs saw the total value of deals it advised on more than doubled during H1 2026 compared to H1 2025 due to its involvement in big-ticket deals. Resultantly, it went ahead from occupying the third position by value in H1 2025 to top the chart by this metric in H1 2026. During H1 2026, it advised on 61 billion-dollar deals* that also included also included 20 mega deals valued more than $10 billion.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database reveals that Morgan Stanley occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $420 billion worth of deals followed by JPMorgan with $382.2 billion, Bank of America with $230.4 billion, and Wells Fargo with $208.9 billion.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley occupied the second position in terms of volume by advising on 122 deals followed by Goldman Sachs with 104 deals, JPMorgan with 90 deals, and Evercore with 81 deals.

*Deals valued more than or equal to $1 billion