Citi and Houlihan Lokey were the top M&A financial advisers in the consumer sector in 2024, analysis of deal data suggests.

According to the deals database of GlobalData, Just Food’s parent, Citi headed the charts when measuring the value of transactions last year, while Houlihan Lokey advised on the most transactions.

Citi worked on deals in the consumer sector worth a cumulative $39.36bn. Houlihan Lokey was appointed an adviser on 29 transactions.

Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, said: “Citi secured the first rank by value in 2024 but faced close competition from Goldman Sachs.

“Houlihan Lokey was comfortably ahead in terms of volume in 2024. It registered growth in the number of deals advised by it in 2024 compared to the previous year. As a result, its ranking by volume also improved from second position in 2023 to the top position in 2024.” 

When measuring the value of deals, Goldman Sachs ranked second, advising on $39.1bn worth of transactions.  

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Lazard followed, working on transactions worth a combined $37.5bn, then came JP Morgan with $11.7bn and Nomura with $7.1bn.

A table ranking the top M&A advisers in the consumer sector in 2024
Credit: GlobalData’s deals database

In terms of deal volume, Ernst & Young ranked second with 21 transactions, followed by PwC with 15.  

Clairfield International and KPMG jointly held the fourth position, each advising on 14 deals.

JP Morgan also featured in the list of top ten advisers by volume, with the US-based investment working on ten deals.

GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources. A team of analysts gathers in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names. 

To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers