Goldman retains status as GPs' bank of choice

Goldman Sachs has retained its status as GPs’ bank of choice for M&A advisory work this year, as measured by total fees secured, according to data complied by Thomson Reuters. The Wall Street titan captured $172 million in fees from buyout firms in the first nine months of 2011, more than any other bank, but a drop from the $236 million it collected in advisory fees over the same period last year.

In total, banks received some $3.5 billion in advisory fees from private equity-led M&A transactions in the first three quarters of 2011. In 2010 that equivalent figure was roughly $3 billion.

The data also reveals an uptick in the average fee paid by GPs. Of the 2,664 private equity-backed M&A deals in the first three quarters of 2011, the average fee paid was $1.33 million. In comparison, the average fee paid across the 2,451 deals over that same time period in 2010 was a lower $1.23 million.

Morgan Stanley, however, was the top bank in terms of number of deals. The bank advised 42 private equity M&A transactions in the first nine months of 2011, just squeaking past Goldman’s 41 deals.