The best M&A teams to be in this year - by bank
It’s no secret that investment banking is taking a hit this year. After an abnormally good 2021, even the mightiest bulge bracket banks are suffering falls in revenue of over 50%.
But if you plan on weathering the storm (and hopefully still get a good chunk of your bonus), you might be asking yourself which cabin has the best prospects for survival. Courtesy of Dealogic, we have the answers you need. In the charts below, we've compared this year's global performance by sector team to last year's exceptional outcomes and the less anomalous baseline of 2019.
Best sectors for M&A in 2022:
Source: Dealogic
Technology and healthcare, despite taking some hits to total volume in 2022, remain the largest industries in M&A by some margin. Real estate, as well as utilities & energy, were the only major sectors to see an increase in M&A activity in 2022 as opposed to 2021.
Despite warning that IB fees could drop by up to 50%, several of JPMorgan's M&A teams have done well compared to the 2019 baseline. The performance of their technology team looks worrying, but JPMorgan bankers working with real estate and utilities & energy clients can breath a sigh of relief.
It’s unlike Goldman to leave anything on the table, but their performance in some sectors looks better than others, compared to rivals. Tech took a far smaller hit than it did at some of the other banks on our list, but healthcare doesn't look quite as impressive.
Morgan Stanley’s real estate IB team is having an extraordinary year, with a 221% increase in global revenues (second only to Bank of America, whose real estate revenues are up nearly 400%) compared to 2021, but its healthcare bankers are looking less impressive. Morgan Stanley's revenues from utilities & energy deals are up nearly 40% this year compared to 2021.
Bank of America's real estate M&A team are the real outperformers at the bank this year. However, the utilities & energy team aren't doing badly and the healthcare team is doing well compared to 2019. Mostly, BofA's investment bankers appear to be having a good year - however, this may partly be a reflection of their underperformance previously.
Citi is investing in its IB business this year, with a focus on areas like its new healthcare and tech investment banking "supergroups." However, its revenues from technology banking remain negligible and its healthcare revenues are down. Real estate bankers at Citi have most to celebrate - but compared to 2021, utilities & energy bankers at Citi are making less, even with sector teams at rivals are thriving.
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