Frank Reporter
S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a recent report that global M&A activity remained subdued in the second quarter of 2024 as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates high in an effort to tame inflation, raising the cost of financing deals.
Globally, announced M&A deal volume has fallen below 10,000 in three of the past four quarters. Approximately 9,719 announced deals were announced, up from 9,696 in the first quarter but down from 10,784 in the second quarter of 2023. Deal value was $600.1 billion, down from $621.1 billion in the previous quarter but up from $593.1 billion in the same period last year.
In the first half of this year, global M&A deal value rose 12% year-on-year to $1.22 trillion.
“While the quarterly total is still well below the levels of 2021, when quarterly totals exceeded $1 trillion, the year-over-year increase in 2024 indicates dealmakers’ increased appetite to execute larger transactions,” the report said. said.
The volume of deal activity is crucial for investment banks, who earn fees by advising companies on sales and acquisitions and by underwriting equity or debt to raise capital.
By the first half of 2024, JPMorgan ChaseNYSE:JPMAccording to Dealogic, it generated $1.41 billion in revenue from global M&A, more than any other bank, with a 9.9% market share.NYSE:GS) with $1.4 billion and a 9.8% market share, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was $960 million, with a 6.7% share.
In terms of deal value, Goldman Sachs (GS) was the largest global trader in the first half of 2024, advising on 201 deals totaling $498.8 billion, followed by JPMorgan (JPM) with 188 deals totaling $411.6 billion, and Morgan Stanley (MS) with 171 deals totaling $396.9 billion.
European M&A activity boosted the global economic outlook: Total announced European M&A value rose 65% sequentially and 25% year-over-year to $182.9 billion in the second quarter, the highest level since the second quarter of 2022, according to S&P Global.
The rankings of the firms in U.S. M&A reflect their standings around the world: JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Morgan Stanley (MS) top the league table in terms of revenue, while Goldman takes the top spot in terms of M&A deal value, followed by JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.
In terms of global investment banking revenue, JPMorgan took the top spot with $3.95 billion in the first half of the year, accounting for 9.5% of the market, followed by Goldman Sachs (GS) with $3.01 billion and 7.2% of the market. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) came in third with revenue of $2.65 billion and a market share of 6.4%.
The rankings were similar in the U.S. investment banking industry, with JPM generating revenue of $2.61 billion, Goldman with $1.9 billion and Bank of America with $1.7 billion, according to Dealogic.
