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 2021 in its report, ‘Global and Financial Services M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables 2021’.

According to GlobalData’s M&A report, a total of 3,854 merger and acquisition (M&A) deals were announced in the sector during 2021, while deal value for the sector increased by 21.1% from $430.6bn in 2020 to $521.3bn in 2021.

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Top advisers by value and volume

Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the financial services sector for 2021 by value and volume, respectively.

Sullivan & Cromwell advised on 42 deals worth $105.1bn. Kirkland & Ellis advised on 76 deals worth $20.1bn.

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only advisor that managed to advise on more than 70 deals during 2021. However, it lagged behind in terms of value and did not find a place among the top 10 by value due to involvement in low-value transactions.

“The average deal size of transactions advised by Kirkland & Ellis was just $264.2 million, while it was $2.5 billion for Sullivan & Cromwell. Apart from leading by value, Sullivan & Cromwell also occupied the fourth position by volume.”

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Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz occupied the second position in terms of value, with 26 deals worth $79.1bn; followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, with 54 deals worth $55.9bn; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, with 37 deals worth $51.6bn; and Cravath Swaine & Moore, with nine deals worth $47.6bn.

Alston & Bird occupied the second position in terms of volume, with 55 deals worth $7.9bn; followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Sullivan & Cromwell. Willkie Farr & Gallagher occupied the fifth position in the volume table, with 42 deals worth $13.8bn.

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.