Goldman GPs preferred choice for M&A work

Based on total market share, Goldman Sachs has gained the title of GPs bank of choice for M&A advisory work, according to year to date figures compiled by Thomson Reuters exclusively for PE Manager.

The Wall Street bank now accounts for 6.87 percent of the buyout M&A market, having climbed from a 4.03 percent share at the end of 2011. Meanwhile Bank of America Merrill Lynch lost 2.48 percent of its market share in the first seven months of 2012, having lost its place as GPs’ preferred M&A advisor in 2011. 

Surprisingly Goldman increased its market share with an average fee higher than what it charged GPs last year. Goldman collected $128 million in fees over 26 completed buyout deals in the first seven months of the year, representing an average fee just shy of $5 million. Last year its average fee was $3.36 million. In comparison BoA-ML fee averages climbed from $4.19 million last year to $4.38 million year to date. 

In total banks received some $1.86 billion in advisory fees from completed private equity-led M&A transactions in the first seven months of the year. In 2011 that equivalent figure was roughly $2.3 billion.