Goldman Sachs has climbed to the top spot in European mergers and acquisitions advisory for the year to date, as Morgan Stanley, last year's leader, slumped to sixth. The total value of announced deals for the first half of the year soared to $1.3 trillion (€970bn), almost as much as the $1.5 trillion recorded in the whole of 2006.

Goldman has advised on 88 deals worth $401.3bn (€299.3bn) in Europe so far this year, according to preliminary figures data provider Thomson Financial.