이 기사는 2019년 10월 04일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

JP Morgan has secured number one position in South Korean M&A financial advisors' league table year-to-date through the third quarter.

According to the bell's league table, JP Morgan advised on five deals worth 4.35 trillion won year-to-date through September, holding the top position. the bell's league table is compiled based on deals that have completed.

Despite no achievement in the second quarter, the investment bank was able to maintain the top spot thanks to the big ticket deal - Shinhan Financial Group's acquisition of Orange Life (formerly ING Life) worth 2.3 trillion won that completed in the first quarter. It takes up more than half of a total value of deals it advised on during the first nine months of 2019.

Other transactions JP Morgan worked on in the first quarter include SK E&S's sale of a stake in Paju Energy Service (900 billion won) and Shinsegae Group's spinoff of its e-commerce business unit SSG.com (1 trillion won). In the third quarter, the bank advised Woori Financial Holdings on its purchase of Tong Yang Asset Management and ABL Asset Management, adding 150 billion won.

Morgan Stanley moved to second place from third, closing five deals worth 4.17 trillion won year-to-date through September. The bank came a close second by a narrow margin of approximately 200 billion won.

Morgan Stanley advised on the Orange Life deal on the side of the seller MBK Partners. Other transactions the bank advised on in the first half of this year include CJ CheilJedang's acquisition of Schwan's Company (900 billion won) and Affinity Equity Partners' purchase of a majority stake in LG Group's subsidiary Serveone (300 billion won). In the third quarter, the bank worked on the sale of a stake in South Korean leisure platform Yanolja's Series D funding (210 billion won) as well as the sale of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf by a consortium led by Mirae Asset Global Investments (410 billion won).

Goldman Sachs dropped one place down to third. It advised on four deals worth 4.12 trillion won this year through September, with no change from the end of the second quarter. However, the gap between the second and the third is only 40 billion won.

It was followed by UBS at 3.5 trillion won and Samsung Securities at 3.37 trillion won. There was no transaction added in the third quarter for both advisors, either.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch secured sixth position, advising four deals worth 2.93 trillion won. In the third quarter, it worked on the sale of LG Electronics' two water treatment subsidiaries. The deal is meaningful to the bank in that it advised one of LG Group's affiliates for the first time.

Based on deal announcements, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley were ranked first and second places respectively year-to-date through September. Meanwhile, Citi Global Markets, currently advising on the sale of Lotte Group's two financial units, will likely move its rank higher in the fourth-quarter league table since the transactions are expected to be completed within October.

(By reporter Han Hee-yeon)