Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey led construction sector M&A financial adviser rankings in Q1 2026 by deal value and deal volume, according to GlobalData’s latest league table.  

Morgan Stanley ranked first by value after advising on deals worth $23.7bn during the quarter. Houlihan Lokey topped the volume table after advising on nine deals.

Eastdil Secured and Goldman Sachs shared second place by value, with each advising on $13.9bn of deals, GlobalData data showed. Wells Fargo followed with $12.8bn, while UBS advised on $6.3bn.

AEC Advisors ranked second by volume with seven deals. Morgan Stanley placed third by volume with six deals, level with Generational Group on six deals. Robert W. Baird & Co. advised on four deals to take the next position in the volume ranking.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Morgan Stanley was the clear winner by value in Q1 2026, outpacing its peers by a significant margin. It was the only adviser to surpass $20bn in total deal value during the quarter.

“It is noteworthy that Morgan Stanley registered 48.6% growth in the total value of deals it advised on in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025.

“Of the six deals advised by Morgan Stanley in Q1 2026, five were billion-dollar deals, including a mega deal valued at more than $10bn, which helped it to register the jump in terms of value.

“Meanwhile, there was also an improvement in the total number of deals advised by Houlihan Lokey in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025. Its ranking by volume also improved from the sixth position in Q1 2025 to the top position in Q1 2026.”

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.