Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the North American region in 2024 by value and volume, respectively, according to the latest financial advisers league table by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database has revealed that Goldman Sachs achieved its leading position in terms of value by advising on $298.6 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 184 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Houlihan Lokey was the top adviser by volume in 2023 and also managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in 2024 as well. Not only did it top the chart by volume during the year, but it also outpaced its peers by a significant margin, which could also be attributed to 17.9% growth in the total number of deals advised by it during 2024 compared to 2023.”

“Meanwhile, despite a decline in the total value of deals advised by it, Goldman Sachs managed to retain the top position by value from 2023 to 2024. It was just shy of touching $300 billion in total deal value in 2024. During the year, Goldman Sachs advised on 59 billion-dollar deals* that also included eight mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it to secure the top position by value. Goldman Sachs, apart from leading by value, also held the second position by volume during 2024.”

Goldman Sachs occupied the second position in terms of volume with 118 deals, followed by JP Morgan with 118 deals, Evercore with 114 deals, and Jefferies with 109 deals.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $296.9 billion worth of deals, followed by Morgan Stanley with $263 billion, Citi with $192.2 billion, and Evercore with $191.4 billion.

*Valued more than or equal to $1000 million