Goldman Sachs tops preliminary U.S. M&A rankings
Mon Mar 28, 2005 05:46 PM ET
By Caroline Humer
NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) topped the rankings for U.S. merger advisory services by value of deals during the first quarter, helped by its work on the quarter's biggest deal, Procter & Gamble's $51.2 billion purchase of Gillette.
The mega-deal, announced at the end of January, helped more than triple total deal value in the United States to $272 billion during the first quarter compared with $85.9 billion in the year-earlier quarter, according to preliminary data provided by market research firm Dealogic.
The rankings, which reflect mergers and acquisitions through midday on Monday, are skewed slightly by the inclusion of competing bids for MCI Inc. (MCIP.O: Quote, Profile, Research) . Dealogic has given credit to advisers of all parties in that process.
Goldman Sachs, which was ranked second for all of 2004, advised on 38 deals worth a total of $132 billion during the quarter. Other big deals on Goldman's list included Federated Department Stores' (FD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) purchase of May Department Stores (MAY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and the purchase of SunGard Data Systems (SDS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) by a group of private equity investors earlier on Monday.
UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) , which advised Gillette with Goldman, vaulted to fourth place from its eighth spot in the rankings during 2004 by the planned purchase.
The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) purchase also helped its adviser Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which moved into a second-place ranking with $86 billion in deals. For 2004, the company had been ranked sixth.
Merrill's ranking was helped by its role as adviser to Qwest Communications (Q.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which is competing with Verizon Communications (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to buy MCI and has offered $8.45 billion.
In addition, 10th-ranked Bear Stearns Companies (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was given credit for its role advising Verizon on its $6.75 billion bid, skewing the preliminary rankings. It had been ranked 15th in 2004.
Morgan Stanley (MWD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which had a fifth-place finish in the 2004 rankings, rose to third place in the first quarter as it worked on both the Federated-May deal and SBC Communications Inc.'s (SBC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) purchase of AT&T Corp. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) .
Credit Suisse First Boston, a unit of Credit Suisse Group (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) , took the fifth spot, helped by its roles advising on the purchases of May, SunGard and Toys R Us (TOY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) . It rose from the ninth-ranked spot in 2004.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which had risen to the top ranking in 2004 largely because of its role as adviser on the bank's own purchase of Bank One, fell back to the sixth spot. Its deals included the sales of SunGard and Toys R Us.
Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) slipped into seventh place from its fourth-place ranking in 2004 as it showed up as the adviser on the sale of Travelers Life & Annuity Co.
Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which had risen to a third place ranking in 2004, fell back to the eighth ranking, with its only top-10 deal being SBC's purchase of AT&T.
Lazard Freres, which is preparing for an initial public offering, fell to ninth place from seventh, gaining credit among top 10 deals only for the bids for MCI.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
yahoo.reuters.com |
