Goldman beefs up its M&A numbers

By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch

Last Update: 2:17 PM ET Nov 3, 2009

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Goldman Sachs started the week with a twofer, as it scored big by advising on two major M&A deals in as many days, solidifying its No. 2 spot in global advisory and closing the gap with rival Morgan Stanley, which is tops in the field.

Goldman (GS), along with Evercore Partners (EVR), advised Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) on its buyout by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA)(BRKB)

And, on Monday, Goldman was disclosed to have advised in Stanley Works (SWK) acquisition of Black & Decker (BDK) .

"Fees from these deals will not be recorded until closing, but they are expected to be substantial," according to Rochdale Securities' analyst Dick Bove.

According to the latest data from Thomson Reuters, those two deals put Goldman's 2009 share of worldwide M&A advisory business at 30.9% -- $503.51 billion out of an industry total $1.63 trillion.

Rival Morgan Stanley (MS) remains in first place in the global M&A league tables, according to Thomson Reuters, with a 33.4% share of fees, representing $545.30 billion of deal value.

According to the data, Goldman's total share of the market before this week's two deals was 29.7%, representing $464.13 billion of the $1.56 trillion of deals announced globally through last Friday.

Citicorp (C), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Credit Suisse (CS) rounded out the top five global M&A advisers, according to the Thomson data.