Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey have been identified as the leading financial advisers for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector during the first three quarters (Q1-Q3) of 2026, according to GlobalData.
The latest GlobalData league table shows that Morgan Stanley secured the highest position by deal value, advising on $152.5bn worth of transactions.
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In terms of deal volume, Houlihan Lokey led the rankings, advising on 66 transactions during the same period.
Goldman Sachs took second place by deal value, having acted as adviser on deals worth $101.6bn.
Evercore was next, with $83.5bn in deal value, followed by JPMorgan with $59.9bn, and Qatalyst Partners with $38.8bn.
For deal volume, Evercore and JPMorgan each advised on 39 deals, ranking third and fourth, respectively, and Barclays was fifth with 28 transactions.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Both Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey were the clear winners, outpacing their peers by a significant margin during Q1-Q3 2026 in terms of value and volume, respectively.
“Houlihan Lokey was the top adviser by volume during Q1-Q3 2025 and retained its leadership position by this metric during Q1-Q3 2026 as well, despite a year-on-year drop in the total number of deals advised by it. Notably, the majority of the top 10 advisers by volume experienced a drop in deal volume.
“Similarly, Morgan Stanley’s position in value ranking chart improved from second during Q1-Q3 2025 to the top spot, despite a decline in the total value of deals advised by it. Involvement in five mega deals valued more than $10bn helped it secure the top spot during Q1-Q3 2026. These deals accounted for more than 70% of the total value of deals advised by it. Morgan Stanley also held the second position by volume, with 40 deals.”
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available in the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather 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.
