Morgan Stanley ranked as the top financial adviser for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in terms of both value and volume in the construction sector in the first half (H1) of 2026, according to new data from GlobalData.
According to GlobalData’s latest Financial Deals Database, the firm advised on 15 transactions with a total value of $81.3bn.
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Goldman Sachs ranked second by value, working on deals totalling $77.4bn.
Barclays followed with $47.8bn, Bank of America with $37.1bn and Wells Fargo with $29.8bn in transaction value.
In terms of deal volume, Houlihan Lokey was second with ten deals advised, tying with Generational Group, which also recorded ten transactions.
Goldman Sachs and AEC Advisors completed eight deals each over the same period.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “The total number of deals advised by Morgan Stanley almost doubled in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025, and its ranking by volume improved from sixth position to the top position. It was among the very few advisers to reach double-digit deal volume during H1 2026.
“Morgan Stanley’s ranking by value also improved from seventh position in H1 2025 to the top position in H1 2026, as there was more than a four-fold jump in the total value of deals advised by it due to its involvement in some big-ticket deals.
“In fact, more than half of the deals advised by Morgan Stanley in H1 2026 were billion-dollar deals. During H1 2026, it advised on nine billion-dollar deals that also included three mega deals valued more than $10bn.”
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available in the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness of the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
