Goldman Sachs, Houlihan Lokey lead H1 2026 M&A adviser rankings
Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions financial advisers by value and volume during the first half of 2026, according to the latest financial advisers’ league table by GlobalData.
Using figures from its Financial Deals Database, GlobalData said Goldman Sachs advised on transactions worth $597.4bn, placing it at the top of the value ranking. Houlihan Lokey led the volume table with 152 deals.
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Morgan Stanley was second in the value ranking with $420bn in advised deals. JPMorgan followed with $382.2bn, ahead of Bank of America on $230.4bn and Wells Fargo on $208.9bn.
In the volume ranking, Morgan Stanley took second place with 122 deals. Goldman Sachs followed with 104, while JPMorgan advised on 90 deals and Evercore on 81.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “Houlihan Lokey was the top adviser by volume in H1 2025 and managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in H1 2026 as well.
“Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs saw the total value of deals it advised on more than doubled during H1 2026 compared to H1 2025 due to its involvement in big-ticket deals.
“Resultantly, it went ahead from occupying the third position by value in H1 2025 to top the chart by this metric in H1 2026. During H1 2026, it advised on $61bn deals that also included also included 20 mega deals valued more than $10bn.”
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain.
A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
