December 11, 2014 – Goldman Sachs, Wall Street’s biggest dealmaker, has surpassed US$1 trillion in mergers and acquisitions for a single year for the first time since the financial crisis.
The US investment bank passed the closely-watched benchmark for 2014 following transactions this week, according to data Wednesday from Dealogic.
The last time a firm surpassed US$1 trillion in a year came in 2007, when Goldman also breached the level. Goldman’s latest big deal was Merck’s US$9.5 billion takeover of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, unveiled Monday. Goldman has also worked on the US$66 billion purchase of Botox-maker Allergan by Activis and the US$48.5 billion acquisition by AT&T of DirecTV.
With 380 deals worth just over US$1.0 trillion, Goldman leads the pack in global mergers and acquisitions, according to Dealogic. JPMorgan Chase ranks second with US$741 billion in deals and Morgan Stanley is third with US$692 billion in deals. Barclays is the highest ranked non-US firm with US$540 billion in deals, the data show
The ranking does not include data for initial public offerings, an area in which Goldman is also active.