Top Investment Banks for Mergers & Acquisitions in 2025

In 2025, global mergers and acquisitions are surging, led by powerhouse banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley, alongside elite independents such as Evercore and Lazard. Rising players like Mizuho are reshaping cross-border advisory, while boutiques including Qatalyst dominate tech deals. From megadeals to mid-market transactions, these investment banks are driving growth, private equity activity, and strategic consolidation across industries, making them the top advisors shaping global deal-making.

After a tough 2023, global M&A found its footing in 2024, setting the tone for an active 2025. Deal value climbed back to roughly $3.2 trillion last year, up around 10% year-on-year, even as overall deal counts fell, a classic sign that megadeals are back while smaller transactions take longer to clear. Technology, Energy & Power, and Financials led the sector mix, and private-equity activity rebounded to its strongest level in two years. Those currents matter because they tend to determine who sits atop the league tables in the year ahead.

Below is our fact-based view of the investment banks best positioned to lead global M&A in 2025, grounded in full-year 2024 results and the most recent quarterly reads. Where helpful, we note strengths by region, sector, and deal type.

The perennial powerhouses

Goldman Sachs
Goldman enters 2025 as the world’s pace-setter in advisory by value. It was the only bank to top $1 trillion of announced M&A volume in 2024 on ~430 deals, retaining No. 1 in the US and gaining share in both Europe and Asia-Pacific. That breadth, mega-cap boardrooms in the US, multinationals in Europe, and cross-border Asia mandates, keeps it central to the year’s biggest transactions and complex separations.

JPMorgan
JPMorgan’s global bench and balance-sheet reach continue to translate into marquee mandates and fee leadership in major markets. In the UK, for example, JPMorgan topped 2024 investment-banking fees, reflecting a resurgence in M&A revenues there; that momentum typically spills into contested situations and cross-border deals in the year that follows. 

Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley closed the gap on value rankings in 2024 (climbing to No. 2 in 9M tables) on the back of technology and healthcare strength, two sectors that remain active in strategic consolidation and carve-outs in 2025. The firm’s sponsor franchise also positions it well as private equity accelerates exits and public-to-private bids. 

Citi
Citi’s 2024 surge in global advisory value was notable (up ~31% in 9M league tables), powered by cross-border reach and emerging-market connectivity, an edge as Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Indian buyers continue to shop internationally. Expect Citi to feature prominently in complex, multi-jurisdictional deals this year. 

Bank of America
With deep sector verticals and balance-sheet support, BofA remains a core counterparty on US industrials, energy, and financials deals. While its 2024 share dipped slightly versus 2023 in the 9M cut, the firm stayed a top-five global adviser by value and remains embedded in the megadeal pipeline across defensive mergers and cost-synergy combinations. 

The elite independents

Evercore

Evercore posted one of the sharpest rebounds in 2024, nearly doubling advisory value in the 9M snapshot and climbing the global ranks, helped by large-cap strategic work and a resurgent sponsor flow. High-touch senior coverage and conflict-free advice keep Evercore on the shortlist for contested deals, fairness opinions, and special committees in 2025. 

Lazard
Lazard’s global footprint, especially in Europe, together with its renowned restructuring practice, makes it a natural pick for cross-border and complex restructurings that often accompany late-cycle M&A. As rates remain elevated and boards sharpen cost discipline, Lazard’s dual advisory and RX capabilities stay in demand. (Context on the 2024 rebound and sector mix from LSEG helps explain the setup.) 

Centerview Partners
Centerview’s concentrated senior-banker model keeps it punching above its size on high-stakes deals, spin-offs, and activism-related processes. Expect more board-level mandates in healthcare and consumer, two sectors where Centerview repeatedly shows up on headline transactions.

Qatalyst Partners
In technology, Qatalyst remains a go-to adviser for take-overs and competitive processes among software and internet platforms. With tech again the largest M&A sector by value in 2024, specialist boutiques like Qatalyst should continue to surface on 2025’s most-watched tech deals. 

PJT Partners & Perella Weinberg
Both boutiques are well-positioned for special situations, separations, and restructuring-adjacent engagements that often form the spine of late-cycle M&A. They also feature in defense assignments when activist pressure meets strategic alternatives.

Rising forces and regional specialists

Mizuho
Fresh off integrating Greenhill, Mizuho has been explicit about its ambition to break into or remain in the global top-10. The acquisition bolstered Mizuho’s US and cross-border advisory capabilities, and Japan’s outbound M&A wave gives it a natural pipeline. Watch the bank in 2025 for more sponsor and Japanese corporate mandates, particularly in US tech and industrials. 

Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank
Each remains influential in EMEA; Barclays’ UK heritage, UBS’s post-Credit Suisse platform, and Deutsche’s renewed coverage push keep them in the frame for European privatizations, carve-outs, and energy transitions.

Macquarie & Nomura (APAC)
Regional leaders that capitalize on infrastructure, resources, and Japan/Korea corporate realignment. Macquarie’s Australasia presence and Nomura’s Japan franchise are consistent sources of mid-to-large-cap mandates. (See Mergermarket’s regional leader notes across APAC.) 

Mid-market and small-cap leaders (the deal count machines)

A different leaderboard emerges outside the mega-cap arena. PwC led global deal counts in 2024 and into 1Q25, with UBS and Goldman Sachs close behind—underscoring how consulting-linked platforms and universal banks dominate high-volume sub-$500m transactions. LSEG data shows small-cap deal value down in 2024, but still a huge opportunity set where speed and sector expertise matter. 

In mid-market M&A (roughly $50m–$500m), LSEG’s 2024 reviews highlight resilient activity in Technology, Healthcare, and Industrials, with cross-border volumes of about $264bn despite a softer year. Expect active pipelines in software roll-ups, specialty manufacturing, and physician-practice platforms as financing costs stabilize. 

What the 2024 data signals for 2025

1) Megadeals are back and likely to persist.
With board confidence improving and multiple sectors pursuing scale and AI-driven efficiency, the banks with proven megadeal credentials (Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, BofA, Citi, and Evercore) are set to dominate fee pools again. 2024’s global value rebound and sector mix (Tech, Financials, Energy) point to more transformational transactions in 2025. 

2) Private equity is re-accelerating.
PE-backed M&A rose ~24% in value in 2024, and pipelines in software, healthcare services, and energy transition assets remain busy. Expect Evercore, JPMorgan, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and sponsor-centric boutiques to see more sell-sides and take-privates. 

3) Cross-border momentum favors globally networked platforms.
Cross-border M&A topped ~$1.1 trillion in 2024. That supports banks with deep regulatory know-how and multi-jurisdiction execution - Citi, Goldman, JPMorgan, and Mizuho (leveraging Greenhill) should benefit as Japanese, Middle Eastern, and European buyers continue to hunt in North America and beyond. 

4) Mid-market fragmentation rewards specialists.With small-cap values down and deal counts lower, advisors with sector specialization and buyer access (including the Big Four’s corporate finance arms and regional boutiques) will continue to win mandates where certainty and speed of close trump headline price. LSEG’s small-cap review and Dealogic/PwC-style volume reads support that pattern. 

Our 2025 “watch list” of top M&A advisers

• Goldman Sachs – Global No. 1 by value in 2024; unmatched megadeal franchise and cross-regional coverage. 
• JPMorgan – Balanced global platform; fee leadership in key markets like the UK signals broad momentum.
• Morgan Stanley – Strength in tech and healthcare; strong 2024 value gains.
• Citi – Cross-border specialist with improving share and EM connectivity.
• Bank of America – Core partner on US industrials/energy deals; persistent large-cap presence.
• Evercore – Fast-rising independent with outsized large-cap and sponsor exposure. 
• Lazard / Centerview / PJT – Board-level advisers for complex separations, restructurings, and activism defense, all increasingly relevant in a higher-rate, efficiency-driven environment. (Context: sector mix and late-cycle dynamics from LSEG’s 2024 review.) 
• Qatalyst Partners – Tech specialist likely to reappear on 2025’s headline software deals as tech remains the largest M&A sector. 
• Mizuho – Post-Greenhill, a credible bid for more global mandates as Japan Inc. hunts overseas assets.
  

Method note

Rankings vary by data provider (LSEG/Refinitiv, Mergermarket, Dealogic), by value vs. deal count, and by size buckets (small-cap, mid-market, large-cap). Our selections emphasize 2024 global value leadership, recent quarterly trends, and qualitative factors (sector depth, cross-border capability, and conflict-free advisory where relevant). For context, Mergermarket’s 2024 tables place Goldman at No. 1 globally by value (and the only bank over $1T), while LSEG data confirms the rebound in overall value and the sector/PE patterns shaping 2025 pipelines. 

Bottom line: If 2024 was the comeback, 2025 looks like the year boards press the advantage, using M&A to accelerate AI adoption, simplify portfolios, and lock in cost synergies. Expect the names above to anchor the largest deals, while mid-market specialists continue to drive the volume that keeps the engine humming.

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