Goldman Sachs leaves rivals far behind in M&A race

Goldman Sachs is racing ahead of its rivals in the global investment banking segment by revenues and fees in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activity. Goldman Sachs' performance in 2015 so far exceeded while its competitors are not even close to it. With a market share of 12.3 percent, Goldman Sachs recorded $2billion revenues till date, while JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are left with less than nine percent market share in the M&A space. The mergers and acquisitions activity this year so far was a robust period for Goldman Sachs. 

Not only improving its performance during the period, but also Goldman Sachs far exceeded its rivals in the industry. JPMorgan registered $1.31bn revenues with a market share of 8.1 percent and Morgan Stanley earned $1.24bn revenues with the market share of 7.7 percent, according to preliminary data from Dealogic.

Most of the M&A revenues are accounted for the healthcare industry as it stood at $2.8bn. Goldman Sachs has been crushing the tech banking for the majority of the banks' way of dealing is different.

China targeted M&As valuing $373bn in 2,337 deals in 2015 so far. This is seven times higher than Japan's targeted M&A volume of $551.8bn in 1,747 deals. 

Two decades ago in 1996, it was a totally different scenario as Japan's M&A totaled $7.8bn 15 times higher than China's $496mn. 10 years ago in 2006, Japan's targeted M&A was $120bn 89 percent higher than China's $63.8bn, according to Dealogic's data.

With three months window left for year close, investment bankers are gearing up in M&A space. However, the situation in the banking space is not the same it was forecast in January. Uncertainty on US interest rate cut, stock markets crash in August, Asian markets weakness, China's economy slow down, Yuan devaluation, financial crisis and fresh elections in Greece, etc, have impacted the global banking sector in a negative way. 

Though there's a lot of potential in M&A activity in the banking sector, it requires huge capital market supply and this has to be continued through 2016 as well, according to BNP Paribas. The M&A target is worth $758bn in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region had been announced. This is the highest volume in M&A activity in EMEA region since 2008.

Dealogic data has prepared a list of the top-10 revenue earners in the M&A space. The top five from the list includes Goldman Sachs with $2,000mn revenues from 12.3 percent market share, JPMorgan with $1,313mn revenues from 8.1 percent market share, Morgan Stanley with $1,241mn from 7.7 percent market share, Bank of America Merrill Lynch with $952mn revenues from 5.9 percent market share and Citi with $880mn revenues from 5.4 percent market share.

The second half of the top-10 list comprised Lazard with $694mn revenues from 4.3 percent market share, Barclays with $644mn revenues from four percent market share, Deutsche Bank with $622mn revenues from 3.8percent market share, Credit Suisse with $515mn revenues from 3.2 percent market share and Centerview Partners with $448mn revenues from 2.8 percent market share.