Financial advisers JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs were noted to be the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in North America in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Involvement in two megadeals (worth >US$10bn) primarily helped JP Morgan to secure the top position. In contrast, Goldman Sachs was not involved in any mega deals announced during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

JP Morgan advised on 58 deals worth US$95.4bn, which was the highest among all advisers. Morgan Stanley occupied the second position by value with 44 deals worth US$75.7bn. On the other hand, Goldman Sachs, which led in volume terms having advised on 68 deals worth US$73.8bn during H1, had to settle for the third position by value. JP Morgan occupied the second position by volume followed by Evercore with 53 deals worth US$37.9bn, according to GlobalData.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Goldman Sachs, despite leading by volume and advising on 22 deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn, lost the top position by value to JP Morgan, which advised on 19.

“The number of deals announced in North America decreased by 25.3% from 14,462 in H1 2019 to 10,804 in H1 2020, according to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database. Deal value decreased by 60.1% from US$998bn in H1 2019 to US$398.3bn in H1 2020. The subdued deal activity could be attributed to volatile market conditions due to COVID-19 outbreak.”

JP Morgan stood at secondposition by value in the recently released global league table of top 20 M&A financial advisers by GlobalData. In this ranking, Goldman Sachs occupied second position by volume.