Goldman Sachs has emerged as the leading financial adviser in the construction sector for mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in terms of value during the first half (H1) of 2025, according to the latest league table published by leading data and analytics company GlobalData.

Goldman Sachs secured the top spot by deal value, advising on transactions worth $26.2bn. In contrast, Jefferies led by deal volume, having advised on nine separate deals.

GlobalData's Deals Database further highlights J.P. Morgan as the second-ranking adviser by deal value, with $22.2bn worth of deals.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Both Goldman Sachs and Jefferies witnessed improvement in value and volume of deals advised by them in H1 2025 compared to H1 2024, and their respective rankings by these metrics also improved.

“Jefferies went ahead from occupying the 11th position by volume in H1 2024 to top the chart in H1 2025. Similarly, Goldman Sachs’ ranking by value also improved from the fourth position in H1 2024 to the top position in H1 2025.

“It is noteworthy that all the six deals advised by Goldman Sachs during H1 2025 were billion-dollar deals, which also included a megadeal valued [at] more than $10bn.”

Jefferies followed closely with $19.2bn while Citi and Bank of America advised on deals valued at $18.1bn and $17.9bn, respectively.

In terms of deal volume, Lazard ranked second, advising on eight deals, matching Houlihan Lokey's tally. J.P. Morgan and Citi both advised on seven deals each, rounding out the top advisers by volume.  

GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory company websites, and other reliable sources available on 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.