Bank of America Merrill Lynch has dominated the latest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) league table of the top 10 financial advisers in South and Central America based on deal value in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The US investment bank advised on 15 deals worth US$32.4bn.

According to GlobalData, which tracks all M&A, private equity/venture capital and asset transaction activity around the world to compile the league tables, Banco Santander ranked second with four deals worth US$24.6bn.

Ravi Tokala, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Despite the global downward trend in deals activity in 2019, South and Central America recorded a reverse trend in both total deals value and volume terms. The total deals by value and volume increased by 21.86% and 36.91% respectively, in 2019 over last year.”

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South and Central America deals market in 2019

The deal volume in South and Central America saw an increase of 36.91% from 1,081 in 2018 to 1,480 in 2019. Deal value increased by 21.86% from US$102.1bn in 2018 to US$124.5bn in 2019.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which topped the league table of M&A financial advisers in Asia-Pacific, claimed sixth position in GlobalData’s recently released global league table of top 20 M&A financial advisers.

Jones Day leads top 10 M&A legal advisers list

Law firm Jones Day emerged as the lead player in the list of top 10 legal advisers, in terms of deal value. It advised on two deals worth a combined US$8.7 bn. King & Wood Mallesons and Minter Ellison both advised on one deal worth US$5.4bn. In the global league table of top 20 M&A legal advisers, Jones Day secured seventeenth position.