Lawyers Weekly Australia reports….
Mallesons, Allens leading on deals
Mallesons Stephen Jaques is leading the pack as the top legal adviser, by deal value, for announced M&A deals so far this year.
According to the latest Thomson Reuters deals table, the firm has advised on 19 announced deals, valued at a total of $US12.2 billion ($17.1 billion). Second on the table is M&A powerhouse Freehills, which has advised on 21 deals valued at $US11.1 billion, and Johnson Winter & Slattery wind out the top three, with seven deals totalling $US10 billion. UK Magic Circle firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters were next on the list – a result of their involvement with the big cross-border resources deals.
Thanks to an active market in this cross-border space, all three firms are up considerably – in terms of deal value – compared with last year. Mallesons’ deal value for the first quarter of 2008, for example, was $US5.5 billion – less than half of its total for Q1 this year. In total, announced deals for Q1 2009 total $US26.5 billion, compared with $US19.3 billion in 2008.
In terms of completed deals, Allens Arthur Robinson are sitting in the top spot, having advised on 11 completed deals worth $US2.4 billion. Freehills are in second spot, with 17 deals worth $US2.3 billion, and Clayton Utz, Mallesons and Minter Ellison rank 3rd, 4th and 5th.
In contrast to announced deals, completed deals for Q1 2009 are considerably down on last year. In total, there have been 81 completed deals worth $7.2 billion, compared with $30.6 billion for the same period last year.
