Goldman Sachs and PwC have led the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) rankings for Europe’s financial advisers in the first quarter of 2025, according to the latest financial advisers league table published by GlobalData.
According to GlobalData’s Deals Database, Goldman Sachs secured the top position by deal value, by advising on transactions worth a total of $17.6bn.
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PwC led by deal volume, having advised on 29 transactions during the quarter.
Jefferies followed Goldman Sachs in second place by value, handling $12.4bn in deals.
Bank of America ranked third with advisory on deals valued at $11.1bn, while Barclays and Lazard completed the top five, with $7.9bn and $7.2bn worth of deals, respectively.
In terms of volume, Clearwater ranked second with 21 deals. Ernst & Young followed closely with 20 deals, while Deloitte and Rothschild & Co handled 18 and 17 deals, respectively.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “PwC registered improvement in the total number of deals advised by it during Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. Resultantly, it went ahead from occupying the fourth position by volume in Q1 2024 to top the chart by this metric in Q1 2025.
“Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs, which was the top adviser by value in Q1 2024, also managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in Q1 2025 as well. Despite a fall in the total value of deals advised by it in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024, Goldman Sachs stayed much ahead of its peers. During Q1 2025, it advised on five billion-dollar deals.
“Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Goldman Sachs secure the top spot by value. Apart from leading in terms of value, it also occupied the seventh position by volume in Q1 2025.”
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.
