Kirkland & Ellis was the leading legal adviser globally for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Q1 2020 in the construction sector based on deal value, according to GlobalData.
The American law firm advised on four deals worth $25.3bn. Kirkland & Ellis stood at fifth position in GlobalData’s recently released global league table of top 20 M&A legal advisers.
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GlobalData has published a top ten league table of financial advisers ranked according to the value of announced M&A deals globally. If the value remains the same for multiple advisers, deal volume is given weighting.
Sullivan & Cromwell stood at second position with four deals worth $24.23bn, followed by White & Case also with four deals, but worth $21.7bn.
The construction sector saw a rise in the value of deals in Q1 2020 when compared with Q1 2019. The overall deal value increased by 28.45% from $47.2bn in Q1 2019 to $60.63bn in Q1 2020. However, deal volume decreased by 6.15% from 667 in Q1 2019 to 626 in Q1 2020.
GlobalData financial deals analyst Ravi Tokala says: “With an impressive overall rise of 28.45% in deal value in the construction sector, the top three advisors in value terms, Kirkland & Ellis, Sullivan & Cromwell and White & Case, respectively, were able to cross the US$20bn mark.”
Latham & Watkins tops by volume
Latham & Watkins has secured number one position based on deal volume in Q1 2020. The firm advised on eight deals worth $7.45bn.
In the second place was Jones Day with six transactions worth $0.68bn, followed by Linklaters with five deals worth $19.48bn.
Tokala added: “Despite advising on the highest number of deals, the top three advisors in volume terms, Latham & Watkins, Jones Day and Linklaters, respectively, lagged behind others in terms of value due to the low-value transactions the firms were involved in.”
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.
