Best global M&A house:
Goldman Sachs
|
Also shortlisted: |
In late February 2014, with the M&A business finally blooming after a long hibernation, large, strategic multi-billion deals that corporate strategy groups and their advisers had quietly talked about for years were suddenly flowering. The biggest then was Comcast’s $45 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable.
Goldman Sachs, long-time leader of the M&A rankings in the business for which the investment bank is still best known, wasn’t on the ticket. It looked like it had backed the wrong horse, working with Charter, which had also harboured designs on Time Warner Cable. Goldman found itself on the outside looking in.
“At the end of February 2014, we stood ninth in the announced M&A league tables," recalls Gregg Lemkau, co-head of global M&A at Goldman. “We guided the team not to worry: it was only February. We ran analysis that showed we were rarely number one this early in the year yet would still end up on top.