GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has revealed its global league tables for top 10 legal advisers in financial services sector by value and volume for Q1-Q3 2021 in its report, ‘Global and Financial Services M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1-Q3 2021’.
According to GlobalData’s M&A report, a total of 2,804 merger and acquisition (M&A) deals were announced in the sector during Q1-Q3 2021, while deal value for the sector increased by 55.9% from $272bn during Q1-Q3 2020 to $424bn during Q1-Q3 2021.
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Top advisers by value and volume
Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis emerged as the top M&A legal advisers in the financial services sector for Q1-Q3 2021 by value and volume, respectively.
Sullivan & Cromwell advised on 31 deals worth $64.6bn, while Kirkland & Ellis advised on 51 deals worth $13.5bn.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only firm to advise on more than 50 deals. However, it lagged behind its peers in terms of deal value due to its involvement in low-value deals. Surprisingly, it also did not feature among the top ten advisers by value.”
“In contrast, Sullivan & Cromwell, which advised on fewer but big-ticket deals, was the only adviser to surpass $60bn in total deal value. While Sullivan & Cromwell managed to advise on 14 billion-dollar deals (valued more than or equal to $1bn) that also included one deal valued more than $10bn, Kirkland & Ellis only advised on four deals valued more than $1bn.”
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz took the second position in the value chart with 22 deals worth $51.9bn. It was followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with 39 deals worth $49.4bn, Cravath Swaine & Moore with seven deals worth $45.1bn and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett occupied fifth position with 29 deals worth $43.5bn.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom secured the second position in the volume chart. It was followed by Alston & Bird with 38 deals worth $6.8bn. Sullivan & Cromwell ranked fourth in terms of volume and Willkie Farr & Gallagher got the fifth position with 31 deals worth $10.5bn.
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.
