Tag: MS

Consistency pays off for JP Morgan

Brenon Daly

Contact: Brenon Daly

Continuing its steady climb up the rankings, JP Morgan Securities emerged as the busiest adviser for US technology deals in 2009. The bank, which worked on three of the four largest transactions last year, moved up from third place on The 451 Group’s league table in 2008 after not even figuring into the top 10 in the previous year. Unlike many of its rivals that owe their standing to one or two key transactions in a specific sector, JP Morgan figured highly across a broad swath of the technology market.

It was that consistency – in a year plagued by inconsistency and uncertainty – that allowed the bank to slightly edge Goldman Sachs, which held onto second place for the second consecutive year. The aggregate value of the 11 deals that JP Morgan advised on last year totaled $23.9bn, just ahead of Goldman Sachs’ total of 15 transactions valued at $22.6bn. Rounding out the podium, Morgan Stanley stands as one of the only major banks that actually bumped up the number of deals and the total value of those transactions, year over year. Look for our full report, including leaders for a half-dozen specific sectors, in tonight’s MIS sendout.

451 Group League Table

Bank 2009 ranking 2008 ranking
JP Morgan 1 3
Goldman Sachs 2 2
Morgan Stanley 3 7
Bank of America Merrill Lynch 4 4
Citigroup 5 5

Source: The 451 M&A KnowledgeBase

Credit Suisse tops mid-2009 league table

Brenon Daly

Contact: Brenon Daly

In the midyear update to our league table, Credit Suisse Securities has emerged as the busiest adviser in tech M&A for the first two quarters of 2009. It was a dramatic rebound for Credit Suisse, which fell out of the top 10 in 2008 after ranking third in 2007. The bank owes much of its standing to its role in helping to sell Sun Microsystems to Oracle, which was the tech industry’s largest deal since mid-2008. (Our league table is based on acquisitions of US-based IT businesses that were announced – but not necessarily closed – in the first half of the year.)

But it wasn’t just the one whopper deal that put Credit Suisse on top. In fact, the bank not only advised on the highest amount of tech M&A spending ($10.4bn), it also advised on the largest number of transactions (10). That’s even more noteworthy since Credit Suisse did not participate in the wave of consolidation that has swept through investment banking over the past year. The next two firms in our rankings both bolstered their tech banking practices by doing some M&A of their own.

Banc of America Securities, which ranked second on our midyear league table, has enjoyed a significant boost in its tech advisory business since it closed its purchase of Merrill Lynch on January 1. The combined entity advised on six deals worth some $8.3bn so far this year. Just behind Banc of America is JP Morgan Securities, which added Bear Stearns in a distressed sale in mid-2008. JP Morgan ranked third, with five deals valued at $8bn. We will have the full standings and analysis on the midyear league table in a special report that will be included in tonight’s Daily 451 sendout.

League table standings, midyear 2009

Bank Number of deals Amount of spending
Credit Suisse Securities 10 $10.4bn
Banc of America Securities 6 $8.3bn
JP Morgan Securities 5 $8bn

Source: The 451 M&A KnowledgeBase