JP Morgan and Clairfield International were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in South & Central America for H1 2021 by value and volume, respectively. JP Morgan advised on four deals worth US$11bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Clairfield International led in volume terms having advised on nine deals worth US$174m. A total of 485 M&A deals were announced in the region during H1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and South & Central America M&A Report Financial Adviser League Tables H1 2021’, deal value for the region increased by 270% from US$20bn in H1 2020 to US$74bn in H1 2021.

Tokala Ravi, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “JP Morgan and BTG Pactual were among the only two advisors to cross US$10bn during H1 2021 and occupied the top spots by value. However, there was close competition for the top spot among the top five advisors as all these three firms also managed to advise on some of the billion-dollar deals valued more than or equal to US$1bn.

“Despite there being a spike in South & Central American targeted deals, no advisors were able to touch double-digit volume. Moreover, Clairfield International, which advised on the highest number of deals, did not even feature among the top 10 advisers by value due to its involvement in low-value transactions.”

BTG Pactual occupied the second position in terms of value, with two deals worth US$10.5bn, followed by Citi with two deals worth US$9.8bn and Itau Unibanco with three deals worth US$9.5bn.

JP Morgan occupied the second position in terms of volume, followed by Itau Unibanco and Goldman Sachs, with three deals worth US$2bn.