Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the North American region during 2023 by value and volume, respectively, according to 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 Deals Database, the leading data and analytics company reveals that Goldman Sachs achieved its leading position in terms of value by advising on $431.5 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 146 deals.                                                                                    

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Goldman Sachs was the top adviser by value in 2022 and continued to retain its leadership position by this metric again in 2023 as well. Despite experiencing a decline in the total value of deals advised by it in 2023 compared to 2022, it was the only adviser to surpass $400 billion in total deal value.

“Goldman Sachs managed to advise on 59 billion-dollar deals* in 2023 that also included 11 mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it top the chart by value. Moreover, Goldman Sachs was among the only three advisers with triple-digit deal volume in 2023. It also occupied the second position by volume.

“Similarly, Houlihan Lokey continued to retain its leadership position by the value metric in 2023 as well. It fell short of only four deals to touch the 150 deals volume mark.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that Goldman Sachs occupied the second position in terms of volume with 124 deals, followed by JP Morgan with 106 deals, Evercore with 95 deals, and Piper Sandler with 86 deals.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $352.3 billion worth of deals, followed by Bank of America with $288.8 billion, JP Morgan with $258.1 billion, and Centerview Partners with $226.3 billion.