Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the consumer sector during 2025 by value and volume, respectively, according to the latest financial advisers league table by GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database revealed that Morgan Stanley achieved its leading position in terms of value by advising on $79.7 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 30 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Houlihan Lokey was the top adviser by volume in 2024 and retained its leadership position by this metric in 2025 as well. Interestingly, the total number of deals advised by Houlihan Lokey also remained mostly at the same level in 2025 compared to 2024.

“Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley advised on a relatively smaller number of deals but still managed not only to lead by value but also to outpace peers by a significant margin. Of the nine deals advised by Morgan Stanley during 2025, four were billion-dollar deals* that also included two mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these high-value transactions helped it top the chart by value.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that Goldman Sachs occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $65.1 billion worth of deals, followed by JPMorgan with $57.3 billion, Centerview Partners with $56.1 billion, and PJT Partners with $48.7 billion.

Meanwhile, Rothschild & Co occupied the second position in terms of volume with 20 deals, followed by Spayne Lindsay & Co with 17 deals, Goldman Sachs with 16 deals, and Lazard with 15 deals.

*Deals valued more than or equal to $1 billion