JP Morgan and Houlihan Lokey were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in North America during the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 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 has revealed that JP Morgan achieved its leading position in terms of value by advising on $127.3 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 54 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Both JP Morgan and Houlihan Lokey were the top advisers by value and volume in Q1 2024 and retained their respective leadership positions in Q1 2025 as well. Houlihan Lokey was the only adviser to have advised on more than 50 deals during Q1 2025. Meanwhile, JP Morgan was among the only two advisers that managed to surpass the $100 billion mark in total deal value during the review period, but still it was comfortably ahead of the firm occupying the second position by value.”

“More than half of the deals advised by JP Morgan during Q1 2025 were billion-dollar deals* and involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it secure the top position by value. During Q1 2025, it advised on 25 billion-dollar deals that also included four mega deals valued more than or equal to $10 billion.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that Goldman Sachs occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $110.9 billion worth of deals, followed by Morgan Stanley with $89 billion, Citi with $76.5 billion, and Barclays with $66.7 billion.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan occupied the second position in terms of volume with 43 deals, followed by Goldman Sachs with 36 deals, Morgan Stanley with 31 deals, and Piper Sandler with 25 deals.

*Valued more than or equal to $1 billion