GlobalData’s latest league table for North America showed Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey at the top of M&A financial adviser rankings in the first half of 2026, measured by deal value and deal count respectively.
Figures from GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database indicated that Goldman Sachs advised on transactions worth $437.7bn, placing it first by value.
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Houlihan Lokey ranked first by volume with 104 deals.
In the value ranking, JPMorgan stood second with $297.1bn, while Morgan Stanley was third with $223.5bn in advised deals. Wells Fargo followed with $191.9bn, while Bank of America recorded $151.1bn.
In the volume table, Goldman Sachs was second in position by advising 74 deals, while Morgan Stanley placed third with 65 deals. JPMorgan followed with 60 deals, and Piper Sandler recorded 59 deals.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey were the clear winners. While Houlihan Lokey was the only firm to touch triple-digit deal volume during H1 2026, the total value of deals advised by Goldman Sachs was more than $140bn the value of deals advised by JPMorgan, which held the second position by value by advising on deals worth $297.1bn.
“It is noteworthy that Goldman Sachs registered 109.1% year-on-year (YoY) jump in the total value of deals advised by it in H1 2026. During this period, it advised on 42 billion-dollar deals that also included 15 mega deals valued more than $10bn. The involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Goldman Sachs register a massive jump in terms of value and lead the chart by this metric. Goldman Sachs, apart from leading by value in H1 2026, also held the second position by volume with 74 deals.”
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.
