(Click on for a story on Thomson Reuters' first-half M&A rankings for Brazil in terms of deal value and number of deals) SAO PAULO, July 1 (Reuters) - Bankers dismayed by the small number of merger-and-acquisition closings in Brazil this year expect a turnaround in the second half, citing a weak local currency, cheaper assets and cash-flush buyout firms.
Dozens of deals stalled in the first six months of the year because of mounting economic and political turmoil. Still, advisory work remained rather intense in the period, forcing banks to deploy more staff than usual to handle otherwise normal transactions, bankers told Reuters on Wednesday.
In the year through June 30, companies announced $14.47 billion worth of M&A transactions in Brazil, the lowest in a decade, a Thomson Reuters deal intelligence report showed on Wednesday. The value of deals sank 39 percent from a year earlier, and 65 percent from the last six months of 2014.
RANKING VALUE, INCLUDING NET DEBT OF TARGET: FINANCIAL ADVISER VALUE OF DEALS YEAR (H1 2015) EARLIER RANKING 1 Grupo BTG Pactual SA $7.526 bln 2 2 Rothschild $6.415 bln 4 3 Banco Santander Brasil SA $5.896 bln 1 4 Itaú BBA $4.876 bln 3 5 Deutsche Bank AG $3.648 bln - 6 Credit Suisse Group AG $3.629 bln 5 7 UBS AG $3.431 bln 12 8 Moelis & Co $502.4 mln - 9 Goldman Sachs Group Inc $431.5 mln 8 10 Morgan Stanley & Co $312.9 mln 14 TOTAL $14.47 bln - NUMBER OF DEALS: FINANCIAL ADVISER NUMBER OF DEALS YEAR (H1 2015) EARLIER RANKING 1 Itaú BBA 17 1 2 Grupo BTG Pactual SA 15 2 3 Banco Santander Brasil SA 11 3 4 Rothschild 5 5 5 Morgan Stanley & Co 4 6 5 Credit Suisse Group AG 4 11 7 Goldman Sachs Group Inc 3 11 7 BR Partners 3 13 7 KPMG 3 13 7 PricewaterhouseCoopers 3 16 TOTAL 256 - (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by David Gregorio)