America’s Kirkland & Ellis emerges world’s top M&A legal advisory firm in Q1 ’19, says GlobalData

The American legal practice, Kirkland & Ellis, has emerged the world’s top mergers and acquisition legal advisory firm for the first quarter, according to data and analytics comapny, GlobalData.

In a statement sent to business a.m., GlobalData, disclosed that  the law firm advised on 128 deals worth $215.9 billion, including the biggest transaction of the quarter – Bristol-Myers Squibb’s acquisition of Celgene for $89.5 billion.

“With a mix of deal sizes, the company also witnessed a significant year-on-year increase of 129.36% in deal value during the quarter,” GlobalData noted.

GlobalData, compiles the league table using real-time data tracked from all mergers and acquisitions, private equity/venture capital and asset transaction activity globally.

According to the statement, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett occupied the second position with 40 transactions worth $166.4 billion, marking a 48.14% year-on-year increase in deal value.

“All the top five positions in legal adviser league table are held by the US-headquartered law firms, clearly indicating the kind of supremacy the US-based advisers command in global M&A sphere,” said Ravi Tokala, financial deals analyst at GlobalData.

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz advised on 15 transactions worth $165.1 billion while Davis Polk & Wardwell worked on 19 deals worth $143.7 billion. With 10 deals worth $120.409 billion, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson held the

fifth position.

For deal volume, Kirkland & Ellis topped the table with 128 deals, followed by Jones Day with 107 deals worth $110.2 billion.

The overall deal value stood at $956.40 billion in Q1 2019, a decline of 8.24% compared with Q1 2018, and a 20.04% increase from Q4 2018.

In Q1 2019, 13,576 deals were recorded, marking a 37.03% increase from Q1 2018 and a 3.67% rise from Q4 2018.