Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC ended 2019 as the top-ranked M&A financial advisers for the U.S. and Canadian telecommunications sector, propelled by Zayo Group Holdings Inc.'s pending sale to an investor group in a $14.30 billion transaction.

Both firms advised Zayo on the sale, which is expected to close in the first half of 2020. Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan also advised T-Mobile US Inc. on proposed divestitures related to its pending merger with Sprint Corp. The banks each ended 2019 with $19.29 billion in deal credit for work on three transactions.

Morgan Stanley ranked third for telecom M&A financial advisers with $16.83 billion in deal credit from two transactions, including the Zayo deal. Morgan Stanley also advised Cincinnati Bell Inc. in its pending acquisition by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, a deal valued at about $2.6 billion, including debt.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. came in fourth in the ranking. In addition to serving as a financial adviser to the buyer in the Zayo sale, the bank worked with another investor group on its pending $1.35 billion acquisition of some of Frontier Communications Corp.'s assets. Deutsche Bank earned $15.65 billion in aggregate deal credit from those two transactions.

MVP Capital advised on the most telecom deals during 2019, with seven. The firm scored $856 million in aggregate deal credit.