Goldman Sachs
The global rise in M&A volumes in the past 12 months can be largely attributed to the re-emergence of a few multi-billion dollar, complex, industry-defining transactions. Goldman Sachs has once again asserted its dominance in this market, advising on seven of the world’s largest M&A deals over this period. These included Bank of America’s $49 billion acquisition of Fleet Boston, Walt Disney’s $67 billion unsolicited offer from Comcast in the US and Aventis’s $69 billion sale to Sanofi-Synthélabo in Europe.
The only other firm that comes close to Goldman in winning these jumbo advisory mandates is Morgan Stanley. The latter has powered up the league tables over the past year and has been aggressively growing its business but it is still a clear second for global announced or completed deals over the 12 months to the end of April 2004.
Goldman has proved its worth in hostile deals such as Walt Disney and Aventis and across a full range of regions and sectors. Gene Sykes, co-head of global M&A at Goldman Sachs, says the bank is delighted to be getting these jumbo mandates but doesn’t believe they are the main driver of the business.