By Anirban Sen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) each won the accolade of top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisor in the first quarter of 2023 in separate deal league tables, highlighting discrepancies in how these are compiled.
JPMorgan edged out Goldman to claim the top spot in global league tables compiled by Refinitiv Deals Intelligence, having worked on $119.8 billion worth of deals versus $115.4 billion for Goldman in second place. This was the first time Goldman missed out on the top spot since the first quarter of 2019, according to Refinitiv.
In Dealogic's global league tables, however, Goldman claimed the top spot in the first quarter with $120.5 billion worth of deals. JPMorgan came second with $120.1 billion worth of deals.
While the league table numbers produced by Dealogic and Refinitiv have slight differences every quarter, it is rare for them to produce different winners for the No. 1 spot.
Winning the top spot is a coveted prize for investment banks, which monitor league tables closely and use them as a marketing tool to attract clients and hire and retain talent. The discrepancies led to Goldman asking Refinitiv and JPMorgan asking Dealogic for explanations, according to people familiar with the conversations.
A spokesperson for ION Analytics, the parent company of Dealogic, said that its methodology is based on feedback it receives from the market, and declined to comment on the origin of the discrepancies.
"The methodology has been refined continuously over three decades of collaboration with market participants," the spokesperson said.
Matt Toole, director of Refinitiv Deals Intelligence, a London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSEG) Plc company, said that the data vendor took market feedback onboard and was open to making adjustments when it is merited.
"There is a process in place there that can't be unduly influenced because otherwise that breaks the whole trust factor," Toole said.
Spokespeople for Goldman and JPMorgan declined to comment.
It is not clear what caused the discrepancies that led to Goldman and JPMorgan both claiming the No. 1 spot, though there are some known differences in how the league tables of Refinitiv and Dealogic are compiled.
Refinitiv, for example, counts the consolidation of two or more classes of stock as an M&A transaction, whereas Dealogic does not. Dealogic registers a spin-off transaction at the time it is announced, whereas Refinitiv takes note of it at the time when the spun-off company starts trading, which can be several quarters later.
Refinitiv and Dealogic agreed on who came on top in their legal advisor deal league table rankings in the first quarter of 2023 -- M&A powerhouse Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.