GlobalData : Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kirkland & Ellis were top M&A legal advisers by value and volume in consumer sector for Q1–Q3 2020

29 Oct 2020
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kirkland & Ellis were top M&A legal advisers by value and volume in consumer sector for Q1-Q3 2020 Posted in Business Fundamentals

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kirkland & Ellis have emerged as the top legal advisers for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the consumer sector by value and volume for Q1-Q3 2020, respectively. A total of 2,244 M&A deals were announced in the consumer sector during the period, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData's M&A report, 'Global and Consumer M&A Review Legal Adviser League Tables Q1-Q3 2020', there was a 23.2% decrease over the 2,922 deals announced during Q1-Q3 2019. Deal value also decreased by 50.3% from $278bn in Q1-Q3 2019 to $138bn in Q1-Q3 2020.

In GlobalData's ranking, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett gained top spot in terms of deal value by advising on 15 deals worth $21bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Concurrently, Kirkland & Ellis led in terms of volume having advised on 28 deals worth $15.4bn.

deal value by advising Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: 'Kirkland & Ellis was the only firm to advise on more than 20 deals, while also surpassing the $10bn mark in deal value. Resultantly, the firm, apart from leading the volume chart, also occupied the second position by value.'

'On the other hand, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was the lone adviser to surpass the $20bn mark with average deal size advised by the firm standing at $1.4bn.'

Jones Day occupied the third position in terms of value with 20 deals worth $8.7bn, followed by Latham & Watkins with 22 deals worth $8.3bn and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz with seven deals worth $8.3bn.

Baker McKenzie occupied the second position in terms of volume with 28 deals worth $7.8bn, followed by White & Case with 23 deals worth $4.6bn.