M&A bankers are not having an especially good year. It’s only May, and already $1.2bn of revenues that should have been earned on successful M&A deals have been scratched as deals are withdrawn – an increase of 33% on last year according to information provider Dealogic.
So, which M&A bankers are going to be feeling the most thwarted this year? Dealogic broke out the following rankings by bank for withdrawn deals that had European or U.S. targets.
To some extent they read as a reason not to work for top M&A boutiques: Perella Weinberg lost 50% of its Europe-targeted deals this year when Vonovia’s bid for Deutsche Wohnen was withdrawn and Guggenheim Partners has lost 33% of its deals in the U.S. There’s likely to be some frustration at Morgan Stanley in the U.S. too though – 17% of the U.S.-targeted deals the bank was working on haven’t gone ahead.
Things may not be that bad though. Dealogic points out that some deals are withdrawn because they were hostile and advisers manage to see-off the bidder – in which case the M&A bankers have done their job and will get paid a full fee.
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