Goldman Sachs has sunk down the advisory rankings for UK M&A this year as Morgan Stanley pinches the top spot

Goldman Sachs has seen a dramatic reduction in the value of UK mergers and acquisitions (M&A) it has advised on so far this year, falling from the top spot in the first quarter of last year to 12th in 2018.

In the first three months of 2018, Goldman has been engaged on 15 announced deals with some UK involvement worth a combined $37bn (£26bn), according to Thomson Reuters data. Meanwhile Morgan Stanley, which has manoeuvred into the top spot from second place last year, advised on just 10 deals worth a massive $159bn.

Morgan Stanley has been buoyed by headline deals such as the $91bn consolidation of Unilever to a single headquarters in Rotterdam, and the $40bn acquisition of Sky by Comcast in which it is advising Sky.

Read more: JP Morgan bankers top 2017 M&A adviser ranking

UBS climbed up the rankings, as it rose to second place from eighth last year advising on $136bn worth of deals.

By way of M&A which completed in the first quarter of 2018, rather than just being announced, Goldman pulled in in third place. Barclays nabbed the top spot, advising on completed deals worth $23bn.

The last year has seen Goldman take a bit of a battering, as it lost its M&A crown for the whole of 2017 to Morgan Stanley.

Added to that, advisory fees globally fell 11 per cent on completed deals in the first quarter of 2018 to an estimated $8.6bn.

But the M&A market as a whole is thriving, according to the Thomson Reuters statistics. The value of deals involving a UK party was up 162.3 per cent on the first quarter last year, or 209.5 per cent on the last quarter of last year, while worldwide dealmaking hit a record $1.2 trillion in the first quarter.

Cross-border M&A globally hit a new high, and megadeals accounted for 57 per cent of the quarter’s deal value.

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