Crown Castle International Corp.'s pending $7.10 billion all-cash deal for fiber network solutions provider LTS Group Holdings LLC drove communications M&A adviser rankings as of the close of the third quarter. UBS Investment Bank ranked as the sector's top adviser with $10.99 billion in deal credit for the year to date as of Sept. 30.

The Crown Castle deal's four other advisers joined UBS to fill out the top five firms by deal credit: JP Morgan Securities LLC ranked second with $10.56 billion, Evercore Inc. came in third with $9.51 billion, Morgan Stanley was fourth with $8.85 billion and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. came in fifth with $8.06 billion.

In total, S&P Global Market Intelligence counted 19 deal announcements in the communications sector during the third quarter of 2017, with an aggregate transaction or deal value of $10.32 billion. That compared to 39 deals in the second quarter, with an aggregate value of $8.96 billion. There were 46 deals in the third quarter of 2016, with an aggregate transaction or deal value of $6.96 billion.

S&P Global Market Intelligence defines transaction value as deal value plus net debt. If that figure is unavailable, S&P Global Market Intelligence uses deal value, excluding debt assumed, or the deal amount from the PitchBook. For some deals, a value is not given or could not be determined. Total deal value and transaction values are recorded as of the announcement date and include whole and asset deals and minority buyouts. Terminated deals are excluded from the analysis.