GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has revealed its league tables for top 10 legal advisers by value and volume in Europe for 2020 in its report, Global & Europe M&A Review & Legal Adviser League tables 2020’.
According to GlobalData’s M&A report, total of 9,194 M&A deals were announced in Europe during 2020, marking a 11.9% decrease over the 10,436 deals announced in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The deal value increased by 3% from $789bn in 2019 to $813bn in 2020.
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Top Advisers by Value and Volume
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and CMS were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in Europe for 2020 by value and volume, respectively. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised on 76 deals worth $157.8bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, CMS led in volume terms having advised on 244 deals worth $18bn.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “CMS was among the only two firms, the other firm being Baker McKenzie, that managed to advise on more than 200 deals. What is interesting, however, is the fact that both of these firms failed to feature in the list of top 10 advisors by value.
“In contrast, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised on fewer deals but had high-value transactions and was also the sole adviser to surpass the $150bn mark. The firm advised on four mega-deals that were worth more than or equal to $10bn, while CMS did not advise on any mega-deals.”
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By GlobalDataAllen & Overy took the second spot in GlobalData’s ranking of legal advisers for M&As in Europe by value with 184 deals worth a total $143.6bn. It was followed by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton with 48 deals worth $124.8bn and Clifford Chance with 116 deals worth $120.2bn.
Baker McKenzie gained the second position by volume with 210 deals worth $29.1bn, followed by Allen & Overy.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and CMS also remained as top advisers by value and volume in the UK, which is the key European market.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions from leading advisers, through adviser submission forms on GlobalData’s website
