Reuters reports that US firm Skadden has taken the top seat as the legal dealmaker of 2009? pippinig Freshfields at the post with $354.4 bln of global deals
Kirstin Ridley reports that? Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has brushed off competition from UK “magic circle” rivals Freshfields and Linklaters to become king legal
advisor of 2009, with $354.4 billion of deals under its belt.
She writes:
Against a backdrop of a near 30 percent plunge in the value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the wake of the credit crisis and global recession, the value of Skadden’s deals fell
by 16 percent compared with 2008, when it ranked third behind UK rival Linklaters and U.S. peer Sullivan & Cromwell. But securing top deals in healthcare and financial services
sectors helped propel the New York-headquartered lawmaker into top spot both in the U.S. and globally, according to Thomson Reuters’ year-end M&A legal advisory league table.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer clinched the heaviest volume of deals. Its 236 transactions worth $322 billion gave it a 15.5 percent share of global M&A activity, ranking it second. It
advised on top deals including miner Rio Tinto’s (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) $58 billion alliance with BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L).
U.S. lawmakers heavily dominated the top rankings, making up eight of the top 10 advisors in the table. Linklaters, another leading London law firm, was pushed into sixth place from second in 2008, while Clifford Chance slipped to 12th from eighth.
The data, published on Wednesday, showed the value of M&A worldwide fell by 28.2 percent to $2.1 trillion last year, the slowest for deals since 2004.
But the recession has also proved a good earner. Bankruptcy work dominated U.S. deals, with transactions surging over sevenfold to $77 billion.
Table of worldwide rankings in 2009:
Rank value US? $m????????? Mkt share???? No of deals
Skadden???????????????????? ? ? ? ? ? 345,395.7??????????????????????? 17.1??????????????? 173
Freshfields??????????????? ? ? ? ? ? ? 322,139.3?????? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? 15.5??????????????? 236
Shearman & Sterling????????????? 267,937.4?????? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 12.9?????????????? 137
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett???? 266,701.9??????????????????????? 12.9?????????????? 123
Davis Polk & Wardwell??????????? 245,495.8???????????????????????? 11.9????????????? 101
Linklaters????????????????????????????? 232,286.2???????????????????????? 11.2????????????? 215
Allens Arthur Robinson?????????? 299,099.0????????????????????????? 11.1?????????? ?? 95
Sullivan & Cromwell?????????????? 214,515.5????????????????????????? 10.4????????????? 99
Dewey & LeBoeuf????????????????? 204,648.9?????????????????????????? 9.9?????????????? 99
Weil Gotshal & Manges?????????? 191,663.3??????? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? 9.3????????????? 120
Full report at? http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6050J720100106?type=marketsNews
