GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has revealed its league tables for legal advisers by value and volume in North America for Q1–Q3 2020.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett leads by value
GlobalData in its M&A report, ‘Global & North America M&A Review & Legal Adviser League tables’, has published the top 10 league table of legal advisers ranked according to the value of announced M&A deals in North America.
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett climbed up the rankings to occupy the top position in terms of value with 100 deals valued at $137.9bn.
The firm was ranked third in the previous year with 105 deals worth $323.3bn.
In the second place in Q1–Q3 2020 was Kirkland & Ellis with 318 deals worth $137.5bn.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom secured the third sport with $119bn from 90 deals.
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By GlobalDataWachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, which bagged the top spot by value in Q1–Q3 2019, was ranked fourth in Q1–Q3 2020 with 38 deals valued at $115.3bn.
Ropes & Gray, which advised on 122 deals worth 104.6bn, was in the fifth place.
Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only advisor that managed to advise on more than 300 deals during Q1–Q3 2020, thereby outpacing its peers by a great margin in terms of volume. However, due to its involvement in low-value transactions, it lost the top position by value to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
“Additionally, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s average deal size stood at $1.4bn, which is much higher compared to Kirkland & Ellis’ average deal size of $432.2m.”
Kirkland & Ellis occupies the top rank by volume
In terms of volume, Kirkland & Ellis continued to lead the rankings followed by Latham & Watkins that came second with 173 deals valued at $99bn.
Jones Day secured the third spot by advising on 159 deals worth $53.2bn while Ropes & Gray came fourth.
Occupying the fifth position was Goodwin Procter which advised on 117 deals worth $40.8bn.
In the US, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kirkland & Ellis secured the top spot by value and volume.
In Canada, Kirkland & Ellis led by value, while Blake Cassels & Graydon was ranked top by volume.
A total of 8,898 M&A deals were announced in North America during Q1-Q3 2020, a fall of 16.3% from 10,631 deals in the previous year.
The deal value plunged 35.1% to $767bn from $1.18trn during the period.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions from leading advisers, through adviser submission forms on GlobalData’s website
