Fortune favours the bold. And 1H26 has witnessed unrivalled audacity, with record M&A activity fuelled by boards seizing opportunities to scale up in a world of higher geopolitical risks and more accommodative regulators.

M&A volume of USD 3.16tn in 1H26, up 44% year-on-year (YoY), is the biggest haul over a half-year period on Mergermarket record, sustaining momentum from an astonishingly active 2H25.

Megadeals of more than USD 10bn continue to drive aggregate values. Setting another record, 48 such deals were recorded in the period for a total volume of USD 1.32tn, led by OpenAI’s astonishing USD 122bn capital raise. Four megadeals were unveiled in the final week of 1H26, with Martin Marietta Materials’ USD 13.5bn approach for quarry giant Lhoist’s North America business leading the pack.

Such bellwether deals dominating the field means it’s unsurprising to see financial advisory heavyweights Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley retain the top podium spots in Mergermarket’s 1H26 global and regional M&A rankings.

These three are the only houses to secure M&A volumes of over USD 500bn apiece – and each cleared the bar with plenty of room to spare.

Retaining its crown, Goldman Sachs secured an astonishing haul of USD 1.23tn, up 71.2% YoY – well exceeding overall global volume growth.

Demonstrating its strength in breadth, Goldman also took the No.2 spot by deal count, racking up a total of 233 in the period. Its market share of advised deals was 50.3%, a marked improvement on 1H25’s 36.8%.

Some 62% of its volume was derived from sellside mandates – though this comes with the caveat that defence roles for Commerzbank as it fends off UniCredit’s USD 29.5bn offer, and eBay as it handles GameStop’s quixotic USD 57bn tilt are double-edged additions. Goldman’s position as lead financial advisor to diversified US utility Dominion Energy in its agreed USD 118.8bn tie-up with NextEra Energy is less complicatedly positive.

JPMorgan stayed at No.2 globally, with volume of USD 818.8bn, up 33.9% YoY, demonstrating a remarkable rebound in the second quarter – at end-1Q, its volume had slipped 11.4% YoY. With 217 deals in the period, it climbed to fourth place from sixth last year on that score.

Mandates on 21 megadeals buoyed its figures and market share progressed to 33.4% from 31.3% YoY. Key sellside roles included those of Dominion Energy and Lhoist North America transactions, and its position as lead financial advisor in US utility AES’s pending USD 38.4bn takeover by Global Infrastructure Partners.

Bronze medal-winning Morgan Stanley banked volumes of USD 673.1bn, up 40.5% YoY, with roles on 16 megadeals. Market share climbed to 27.5% from 24.5% YoY. Alongside Goldman Sachs as a sellside advisor on Unilever’s USD 42.7bn sale of its foods business to McCormick, Morgan Stanley was also retained by UK real estate player SEGRO as it handles US group ProLogis’ USD 23.3bn approach.

Lazard (USD 295bn, up 110.8%) and Centerview Partners (USD 278bn, up 81.6% YoY) climbed into the top 10 by volume, taking sixth and ninth places, respectively. Lazard’s lead buyside role on that Dominion Energy deal did much to hike its standing in the rankings. Barclays (now ranked at 13, with volume of USD 191.8bn, down 20.2% YoY) and Jefferies (now ranked 14, USD 173bn, down 2.2% YoY) fall out of the top 10.

As observed in the first quarter, the rising tide of megadeal and large cap M&A has obscured a somewhat more complex picture in the mid-market. Yes, deals in the USD 250m-USD 1bn bracket made up volume of USD 404bn, up 16% YoY. But this growth is substantially lower than the headline figure – and volume and deal count in fact fell 10% and 9%, respectively, versus 2H25.

The race for scale has undoubtedly left some sponsor-held assets stranded – especially those bought at lofty post-pandemic multiples sitting in the software space. For these names, the growth of AI can switch from profit catalyst to existential threat on a daily basis and nailing down valuations has been complex.

It’s perhaps this dynamic that accounts for 14 out of the top 20 advisors by deal count recording falls on that metric versus 1H25, including each of the top five.

PwC retains its gold medal on deal count, with 260 transactions – though this is down 71 on 1H25. Following Goldman Sachs in second place, Houlihan Lokey joins the podium with 227 deals (down seven on last year’s haul).

President Donald Trump’s desire to bend the arc of his imperial presidency towards dealmaking, and the European Union’s signalling that it wants to incentivise the growth of continental champions – from banks through to industrial OEMs, have both created regulatory momentum that multinational boards are keen to exploit.

With midterms potentially clipping Trump’s wings this November, the rush to ink deals will likely accelerate in 3Q. The astonishing volume hauls of bulge brackets and boutiques alike in 1H26 give every indication there is the advisory bandwidth to handle this transactional tsunami.

Europe

• Goldman Sachs retained the top spot, with volume of USD 457.4bn, followed by JP Morgan, with volume of USD 369.6bn.
• Morgan Stanley moved up four spots to grab the bronze with USD 242bn, up over 2.6x from its 1H25 tally.
• PwC replaced K3 Capital Group to lead by deal count with its haul of 154 deals.
• In the UK, Goldman Sachs retained the top spot with USD 178.5bn. Morgan Stanley climbed up five places to clinch the silver with USD 144.3bn, a 5.7x rise from its 1H25 total.
• Goldman Sachs held onto its DACH crown with USD 145.9bn across 27 deals.

Americas 

• The first position stayed with Goldman Sachs, with a haul of USD 997.5bn.
• BofA Securities (fourth) and Wells Fargo (fifth) made their way into the top five, replacing Citi and Evercore.
• Goldman Sachs held onto its lead in deal count, with 182 deals, while Houlihan Lokey retained its silver with 168 deals.
• This trend was mirrored in the US rankings with Goldman Sachs ranking first by both deal volume and count, with USD 970bn across 176 deals.
• In Canada, RBC Capital Markets moved up by three places to cross the line first with USD 53.3bn across 22 deals.

APAC  

• In APAC excl. Japan, Goldman Sachs continued to remain the top performer, with USD 77.2bn, while Citi moved up by five spots to earn the silver in deal volume with USD 59.4bn.
• Morgan Stanley surged five spots to third position with USD 59.3bn. BofA Securities vaulted to fifth position from 13th, posting USD 47.2bn.
• On the APAC excl. Japan deal count score, PwC retained its crown with 89 deals, down by 28% from 1H25.
• In Japan, Morgan Stanley jumped a spot to secure the first place by volume, with USD 46bn across 43 deals. Both Nomura and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group took the gold in deal count, with 63 deals each.
• In South Korea, PwC topped the rankings by both deal volume and count with USD 15.3bn across 57 deals.
• In India, Citi climbed up three spots to earn the gold with USD 30.4bn across 10 deals, riding high on the USD 20.7bn Vedanta Aluminium Metal deal. EY led the deal count race with USD 12bn across 28 deals.
• In Australasia, Goldman Sachs rose from sixth to the top spot, with USD 19.4bn across eight deals.

Financial sponsors buyouts 

• Goldman Sachs took the global volume crown, with USD 102.8bn across 19 deals. Morgan Stanley climbed two spots to grab the silver with USD 94.7bn across 27 deals.
• Houlihan Lokey retained its position as the top performer by deal count, with USD 6.6bn across 41 deals.

Financial sponsors exits 

• Goldman Sachs remained in first place with USD 100.5bn across 29 deals. JP Morgan jumped two spots to record the second highest volume, with USD 71.7bn across 25 deals.
• Houlihan Lokey maintained its deal count lead, with USD 16.5bn across 36 deals.