Goldman pips Merrill to European M&A crown
Goldman Sachs has taken the top spot for European mergers and acquisitions advisory for the first half of the year, narrowly fending off competition from Wall Street rival Merrill Lynch thanks to its role on large deals in the telecoms sector.
Just $1.3bn (€834m) in deal credits separated the two banks, with Goldman Sachs winning M&A mandates in the first half worth $190bn, giving its first half year top ranking in Europe in four years, according to data provider Dealogic.
Goldman Sachs is working on several of the largest European deals announced this year, including advising Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera on France Telecom’s €31bn ($48bn) bid, as well as advising Deutsche Telekom on increasing its stake in Greek telecoms company OTE.
The bank is also the top global adviser for M&A, a position it also held at the halfway point last year, with JP Morgan jumping two places to second, pushing Citigroup into third place.
Also making it into the global top 10 was New York-based M&A advisory boutique Centerview Partners, which got in as a result of its work for US cigarette maker Philip Morris on its $112bn spinoff from Altria Group.
UBS, which was the top bank for European M&A at the end of the first half of last year, has slipped to seventh in the rankings and currently has deal credits of €97.6bn, down 76% on its total at the same point last year.
Deutsche Bank has been among the biggest winners this year and has risen from 10th place at the end of the first six months of last year to fourth this year, with Citigroup and JP Morgan completing the top five in Europe.
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