Morgan Stanley topped the charts of financial advisers working on consumer M&A in the first quarter, helped by the mega food deal between McCormick & Co. and Unilever.

According to GlobalData figures, Morgan Stanley was the sector’s top M&A financial adviser by value and volume of deals in the opening three months.

The US bank was an adviser to Unilever on its move to combine much of its food operation with US spices and seasonings group McCormick, a transaction announced on the last day of the quarter.

Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, Just Drinks’ parent, said: “Morgan Stanley showcased improvement in both volume and value of deals during Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025.

“However, the growth was more prominent in terms of value primarily driven by its involvement in a single, very high-value deal. Interestingly, the other advisers that were also involved in this deal occupied the next three top spots in the value ranking chart and were significantly ahead of their peers.”

Goldman Sachs, which ranked second by value and third by volume in the first quarter, also worked for Unilever on the transaction.

Rothschild & Co. – third in the value charts – and Citi advised McCormick on the deal, which valued Unilever’s food business at around $44.8bn.

Morgan Stanley also worked on a notable deal in drinks, advising Refresco on its acquisition of US food-and-beverage group SunOpta.

GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of sources including company websites and advisory firm websites. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names. 

To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals  from advisers.