Morgan Stanley and Diligent Capital emerged as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the retail sector during Q1-Q3 2026 by deal value and volume, respectively, according to GlobalData, the parent company of Retail Insight Network.
GlobalData’s Deals Database analysis showed Morgan Stanley advised on deals valued at $11.8bn, ranking first by value.
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Evercore ranked second by value, advising on $3.3bn worth of deals.
Wells Fargo followed with $3.2bn while Daiwa Securities Group advised on $2.2bn and JP Morgan on $2bn.
According to the league table, Diligent Capital ranked first by volume after advising on nine deals worth $30m.
In the volume ranking, Performance Brokerage Services ranked second with nine deals, the value of which was not disclosed.
Clearwater followed with six deals while Morgan Stanley and Rothschild & Co each advised on five deals.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Despite registering a year-on-year decline in the total value of deals advised by it, Morgan Stanley emerged as the clear winner by value, outpacing its peers by a significant margin. It was the only adviser to surpass the $10bn mark in total deal value during Q1-Q3 2026.
“Involvement in a deal valued at around $9bn for Circle K Polska’s acquisition of Zabka Group was pivotal in placing Morgan Stanley much ahead in terms of value. Meanwhile, Diligent Capital occupied the top position by volume but faced close competition from Performance Brokerage Services.”
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 of the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
