Morgan Stanley leads construction M&A financial advisers

Morgan Stanley now heads up the latest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) league table of the top ten financial advisers in the construction sector based on deal value in 2019, according to data analytics company GlobalData.

Morgan Stanley left behind its counterparts JP Morgan, Citi and Goldman Sachs to lead the table with 25 deals worth US$43 billion.

According to GlobalData, which tracks all M&A, private equity/venture capital and asset transaction activity around the world to compile league tables, JP Morgan occupied second position with 30 transactions worth US$40.5 billion, followed by Citi with 14 transactions worth US$27.8 billion.

“With only one megadeal (>US$10 billion) and less than ~50 deals crossing US$1 billion in 2019, the construction sector witnessed a major drop in overall deal value as compared with the same period last year,” says Ravi Tokala, financial deals analyst at GlobalData. 

“Prologis’ acquisition of Liberty Property Trust for US$12.6 billion and CapitaLand’s purchase of Ascendas and Singbridge for US$8.10 billion were instrumental in deciding the top spot for both financial and legal advisers in the league table.”

The construction sector saw a decline in the value of deals in 2019 when compared with 2018. The overall deal value plunged by 44.5% from US$368.1 billion in 2018 to US$204.5 billion in 2019. However, deal volume increased by 6.12% from 2,531 to 2,686.