Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition for Twitter Inc., the largest leveraged buyout in years, is being advised by five bulge-bracket banks and one boutique.
According to a statement released Monday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the boutique investment bank Allen & Co. advised Twitter. Musk’s principal adviser is Morgan Stanley, with Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc also assisting him.
It’s unclear how much they’ll split, but M&A banker fees typically run from 1% to 3% of the deal’s value. In this case, that would equate to several hundred million dollars.
Allen, as the only boutique in the mix, is ecstatic about the agreement. The New York-based firm, which focuses on media transactions, is arguably best known for its annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, which attracts top media and financial executives.
At least nine additional banks, including Credit Suisse Group AG, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc., and Deutsche Bank AG, are assisting Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays in providing $25.5 billion in debt for the acquisition.
According to data provided by Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs has been the top M&A counsel so far this year, working on nearly $379 billion in transactions. Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase come in second and third, respectively.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware, is an American global investment bank and financial services holding corporation. With total assets of US$3.831 trillion as of December 31, 2021, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the world’s largest bank by market capitalization, and the fifth-largest bank in terms of total assets.
Investment banking, asset management, private banking, private wealth management, and treasury services departments all utilize the J.P. Morgan trademark. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., the actual trustee, oversees all fiduciary activity in private banking and private wealth management. In the United States and Canada, the Chase brand is used for credit card services, retail banking in the United States and the United Kingdom, and commercial banking.
Morgan Stanley is a worldwide investment bank and financial services firm based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Its headquarters are at 1585 Broadway. The firm’s clientele include organizations, governments, institutions, and people, with offices in more than 42 countries and more than 60,000 workers. Morgan Stanley was ranked 67th on the Fortune 500 list of the top firms in the United States in terms of total revenue in 2018.
