SIX banks have advised on more than 200 deals each this year and are vying for the top of the highly coveted annual league table for mergers and acquisitions in Europe.

Just days before Thomson Financial announces the official figures, Goldman Sachs is leading the table, having been announced as adviser on 203 deals worth a total of $814 billion (£403 billion). This amounts to 35.2% of all deals this year and includes its role in BHP Billiton’s bid for Rio Tinto, worth $192 billion.

Goldman is followed by Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citi and JP Morgan. Each of these banks has advised on deals worth $600 billion.

NM Rothschild is in seventh position in terms of market share and volume but is the clear winner by number, having advised on 314 deals this year.

As well as continuing talks between BHP and Rio, the year has been marked by the acquisition of ABN Amro by the con-sortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland in the biggest financial-services deal of all time.

Other major deals include Rio’s move on Canada’s Alcan, Akzo Nobel’s acquisition of ICI, Thomson’s bid for Reuters and the purchase of Alliance Boots by AB Acquisitions. Another is the battle for brewer Scottish & Newcastle by Carlsberg and Heineken. Morgan Stanley has been brought in to boost ENI’s efforts to buy Burren Energy, the UK-listed oil company.

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