GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has revealed its league tables for top 10 financial advisers by value and volume in Europe for 2020 in its report, ‘Global & Europe M&A Review & Financial Adviser League tables 2020’.
According to GlobalData’s M&A report, a total of 9,194 M&A deals were announced in Europe during 2020, marking a 11.9% decrease over the 10,436 deals announced in 2019. The deal value increased by 3% from $789bn in 2019 to $813bn in 2020.
Top Adviser by Value and Volume
Goldman Sachs and PwC were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in Europe for 2020 by value and volume, respectively. Goldman Sachs advised on 90 deals worth $299.7bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, PwC led in volume terms having advised on 206 deals worth $50.5bn.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “PwC was the only firm to advise on more than 200 deals but, surprisingly, it did not feature in the list of top 10 advisors by value. Akin to PwC, most of the top 10 advisors by volume failed to secure a ranking in the top 10 list by value due to their involvement in low-value transactions. Only four of them managed to feature among the top 10 advisors by value.
“In contrast, Goldman Sachs, which advised on less than half the number of deals advised by PwC, managed to secure the top spot in terms of value by virtue of its involvement in big-ticket deals. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, it managed to advise on seven mega-deals that were valued more than or equal to $10bn during 2020.”
