Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey top M&A lists

Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the global automotive sector for 2020 by value and volume, respectively.

Goldman Sachs advised on six deals worth $12.4bn, which was the highest among all advisers. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume, having advised on eight deals worth $218m. A total of 722 M&A deals were announced in the sector during 2020, marking a 1.5% increase over the 711 deals announced in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData's report,'Global and Automotive M&A Report Financial Adviser League Tables 2020', deal value decreased by 42.1% from $69bn in 2019 to $40bn in 2020.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said: "Goldman Sachs was the only adviser that surpassed the $10bn mark during the COVID-19-hit 2020, and, interestingly, most of its peers failed to even touch $5bn in deal value. In fact, Houlihan Lokey, despite leading by volume, failed to reach the $1bn mark and resultantly did not find a place among the top ten advisers by value.

"Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs managed to advise on four billion-dollar deals worth greater than or equal to $1bn. It also occupied the third position in terms of volume."

Bank of America occupied the second position in GlobalData's ranking of financial advisers for M&As in the global automotive sector by value with four deals worth $7.1bn, followed by Rothschild & Co with five deals worth $3.9bn and PJT Partners with two deals worth $3.7bn.

KPMG occupied the second position by volume with seven deals worth $97m followed by Goldman Sachs.

^{Note: GlobalData's league table rankings is based on deal value. If value remains same for multiple advisers, deal volume is given weightage.}

 ^{Note: GlobalData's league table rankings is based on deal value. If value remains same for multiple advisers, deal volume is given weightage.}