Sullivan & Cromwell And Kirkland & Ellis Were Top M&A Legal Advisers By Value And Volume In North America For Q1 2021: GlobalData
By Godson Umejiego, Corresponent USA
Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in North America for Q1 2021 by value and volume, respectively. Sullivan & Cromwell advised on 32 deals worth $109.3bn, which was the highest value among all advisers. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms having advised on 189 deals worth US$108.8bn. A total of 3,927 M&A deals were announced in the region during Q1 2021, according to GlobalData.
According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and North America M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1 2021’, deal value for the region increased by 132.2 per cent from US$208bn in Q1 2020 to US$483bn in Q1 2021.
Lead Analyst at GlobalData, Aurojyoti Bose comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only adviser to advise on more than 100 deals, and, apart from leading by volume, it also gave tough competition for top position by value. However, the firm lost top position by value to Sullivan & Cromwell by a very small margin and had to settle for second position.
“Meanwhile, Sullivan & Cromwell advised on a much lower number of deals but saw higher-value transactions – helping it top by value. While the average transaction of deals advised by Sullivan & Cromwell stood at US$3.4bn, it was just US$576m for Kirkland & Ellis.”
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied the third position in terms of value with 56 deals worth US$101bn, followed by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison with 44 deals worth US$99.8bn and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz with 21 deals worth US$84.4bn.
Latham & Watkins occupied the second position by volume with 84 deals worth US$81.9bn followed by Willkie Farr & Gallagher with 66 deals worth US$55.4bn, Jones Day with 66 deals worth US$24.8bn and Goodwin Procter with 63 deals worth US$27bn.
