• Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley dominate Americas
• UBS, Centerview and Jefferies enter Europe’s top tier
• Huatai Securities enters Asia Pacific’s top 10 advisory ranking

With a 29% year-on-year (YoY) surge in M&A deal values to USD 3.5tn despite the lowest deal count recorded in 10 years, it’s clear that the M&A market has bifurcated.

While North American and European mid-market processes have struggled to shrug off the upheaval caused by US President Donald Trump’s evolving stance on tariffs, the pursuit of scale in a landscape marked by fractured globalisation has generated massive opportunities.

And alongside M&A practitioners pursuing dealmaking to address supply chain and logistics issues caused by a series of geopolitical tensions, the ongoing tech renaissance in cybersecurity and AI has also continued to drive activity.

But in a constantly evolving world, some things never change.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley emerged as the top three global leaders by deal value, according to Mergermarket’s 9M25 global and regional M&A rankings, just as they had in 9M24.

Reflecting the global momentum, Goldman Sachs hit USD 1tn in deal value, with 25 mega-deals (of more than USD 10bn) to its credit. The last time it had hit such a high number was in 9M21, when M&A values rocketed. About 60% of its deals were on the sell-side, where a big chunk came from technology and financial services.

JPMorgan, in solid second position, worked on some 21 mega-deals, the largest being its buyside counsel on Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Affinity Partners’ joint USD 55bn bid for gaming giant Electronic Arts – the largest LBO of all time. JPMorgan also worked sell-side on the majority of its 330 deals.

Morgan Stanley worked on 14 mega-deals, the largest was its buy-side mandate from Union Pacific in its pending USD 85bn purchase of rail operator Norfolk Southern.

The only new name on the global top 10 list by deal value was Wells Fargo Securities, which edged out UBS. Wells Fargo worked with the buy-side on 62.5% of its 48 deals, with most of them based in the US in sectors including computer software and financial services.

On deal count, PwC (422) retained its crown, while Deloitte was pipped to fifth place by Goldman Sachs (367). The two new names on the top ten list were Jefferies (43), building on its position from eleventh in 9M24; and K3 Capital Group (233), up from 64th in 9M24.

Europe winners

The same global winners took the top spots in Europe by aggregate deal value, with regional veterans Rothschild at fifth; Lazard at seventh; and UBS at eighth.

There were three new names among the top 10: UBS, Centerview Partners, and Jefferies. They ousted European stalwarts Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and Barclays.

UBS, which saw deal volumes jump 57% to USD 118bn, worked on the sell/target side about 75% of the time. The Swiss bulge bracket hoovered up mandates in the UK, Switzerland and Germany. While UBS proved adept at servicing clients across several sectors, including medical, industrials and tech, it showed an affinity for financial services and energy deals.

About 65% of Centerview’s 33 deals were on the sell/target side. Notably, it assisted US-based targets on some twelve deals involving European buyers, with suitors including Sanofi, Merck, GSK, Danone and Unilever. Centerview also had the largest YoY rise among the top ten, taking its total to USD 111bn.

Jefferies’ mandates were fairly evenly split between buy and sell-side. On about 20% of its sell-side mandates, it worked to divest energy assets from clients, including shuttle tank operator Altera Infrastructure, Norway-based energy investor HitecVision and France-based energy behemoth TotalEnergies.

Goldman Sachs reigned supreme in the UK, Ireland, DACH, Benelux, Italy, Finland, and MEA; JPMorgan in Iberia and CEE; UBS in Switzerland; DNB in Norway – though Jefferies will have raised eyebrows taking the crown for the Nordics overall; Rothschild took the win in France. Lazard, which usually battles with Rothschild for the gold in France, slipped to fourth, giving room to JPMorgan.

By deal count across Europe, PwC (248) kept its 9M24 crown, followed by Rothschild (237) and K3 Capital Group (233), which scooped up scores of SME mandates.

Americas winners

As sure as night follows day, the same names that ruled the roost globally and in Europe have dominated the Americas: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley. Bank of America and Citi exchanged places to land at fourth and fifth, respectively.

In a tribute to the top rainmakers, there was very little shuffle from 9M24, with only Wells Fargo slipping into seventh, and taking Canadian veteran RBC Capital Markets’ spot.

In the US, there were seven names which saw a decline in YoY value across the top ten, compared to just two in Europe. PJT Partners, which saw the biggest 69% value slump to USD 67bn, also saw its position fall to 16th from tenth. Meanwhile, the name with the biggest jump was Allen & Co, up 85 positions from 9M24, with more than half its deal value coming from a single deal – its sell-side advice to Cox Communications in its ongoing USD 36bn deal with Charter Communications.

Across the US, the same names resounded.

In the Northeast and the Midwest, Goldman Sachs dominated, followed by Morgan Stanley; in the South, these roles were reversed; and in the West, JPMorgan was followed by Goldman Sachs.

In Canada, local stalwart RBC Capital Markets took the silver behind Goldman Sachs, while BMO Capital Markets and Scotiabank Global Banking & Markets played in the top five. CIBC climbed a few spots to land at seventh, while TD Securities secured the last spot among the top ten.

In LatAm, while Bank of America, Citi and JPMorgan took the top three medals, Santander, Banco BTG Pactual, and Banco Bradesco BBI played in the top six.

Goldman Sachs (275) and JPMorgan (248) held the fort even on the deal count front, with Houlihan Lokey (247) hot on their heels.

Asia Pacific winners

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan continued their global dominance in Asia (excluding Japan), followed by CICC, Morgan Stanley, and CITIC Securities.

Other local names on the elite top twenty list included Huatai Securities, Gram Capital, Macquarie Group, China Securities, Hongta Securities, Postal Savings Bank of China, CCB International and Axis Capital.

In Japan, Nomura and Goldman took the lead, though Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Daiwa Securities, Mizuho Financial Group, and YAMADA Consulting also made their mark in the elite rankings.

In Australasia, Macquarie showed its prowess as a top dealmaker, taking the gold for both aggregate values and deal count. In Greater China, CICC, CITIC Securities and Huatai Securities were among the dominant regional players. In India, local leaders Axis Capital, ICICI Securities and Kotak Investment Bank fared well. South Korea’s top 10 deal value contained Nomura as an Asia Pacific player, with KB Securities the standout local entry.

On deal count across Asia Pacific, PwC (165) kept its crown, followed by UBS (59) and Goldman Sachs (56).

Buyout barons

Global buyout volume jumped 38% year-on-year to USD 658.5bn in 9M25, up from USD 476.8bn in the same period last year, driven by a resurgence in megadeals and regional momentum in North America and Asia Pacific.

Against this backdrop, JPMorgan (USD 189bn), Goldman Sachs (USD 134bn) and Citi (USD 115bn) scored the top financial sponsor mandates, with YoY deal values up 124%, 9%, and 54%, respectively.

In a hotly contested race, Houlihan Lokey (46), JPMorgan (41) and Jefferies (41) took the medals for the deal count charts.

Exit emperors

Private equity exits staged something of a recovery in the last quarter after the Liberation Day-related dip encountered in 2Q. However, 3Q’s exit deal count of 371 remains lower than 1Q’s 375 or 3Q24’s 381.

Many processes delayed from the spring are likely to feed through in 4Q25 and 1Q26.

Across 9M25, Goldman Sachs (USD 179bn), Morgan Stanley (USD 141bn) and JPMorgan (USD 129bn) took the top three positions by deal value, up 44%, 382% and 148%, respectively.

Houlihan Lokey showed its sponsor strength, taking the gold on global exits by deal count with a haul of 85. It was followed, some way behind the leader, by JPMorgan (59) and Goldman Sachs (50).