Goldman Sachs and Rothschild top MEA M&A financial advisory rankings in Q1–Q3 2026, according to Private Banker International

Goldman Sachs and Rothschild have emerged as the leading financial advisers in Middle East and Africa M&A during the first three quarters of 2026, based on a deal-advisory review published by Private Banker International.

According to the ranking, Goldman Sachs advised on M&A transactions with a combined deal value of $34.8 billion in the covered period. The metric focuses on deal value rather than deal count, placing the firm at the top of the value-based leaderboard.

Rothschild, by contrast, led on deal volume, advising on seven M&A transactions during Q1–Q3 2026. The firm’s top placement by count suggests it was involved in a wider number of deals, even if the average transaction size was not necessarily the largest in the group.

The comparison highlights two different ways of measuring advisory performance in corporate finance: total disclosed value and number of completed advisory engagements. In practice, both can matter to corporate clients and capital markets participants, because deal value affects how much fee revenue can be generated from advisory mandates, while deal count can reflect relationships, deal origination strength, and sector coverage.

Neither firm’s ranking came with additional public detail in the published tally about deal size distribution, sectors, client types, or the nature of specific transactions. The post also does not provide a breakdown of how many of the advised transactions were cross-border versus domestic within the region.

Goldman Sachs is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker GS, and operates a global investment banking platform that includes M&A advisory. Rothschild operates a financial advisory network best known for advising on corporate transactions and capital markets activity; the tally positions the firm as a frequent adviser for transactions in the MEA region during 2026’s first three quarters.

The broader implication for the MEA M&A landscape is that advisory activity continues to be concentrated among a small set of global and regional investment banking franchises, at least as reflected by this deal-advisory compilation. Rankings like this are also often used by market participants to gauge who is most active in winning mandates when companies plan strategic moves such as acquisitions, mergers, and asset sales.

What remains unclear from the published ranking is the extent to which the advisers’ prominence reflects a handful of very large deals versus consistent participation across many deals, because the tally does not publish transaction-by-transaction specifics or average deal sizes. It also does not indicate whether the figures are limited to completed transactions only or include other forms of mandates, nor does it specify the exact methodology used to categorize “financial advisory” engagements.