Slaughter and May has topped the mergermarket value league table of international law firms that advised on M&A deals in the 2017 calendar year.
The firm acted on 4 M&A deals with a total value of $13.7bn in 2017, according to data provider mergermarket (MM).
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which had topped the 2016 M&A charts by MM, failed to even make the list this year, just like in 2015 when it had slipped off the charts, while Slaughter was still there after Freshfields in the 2016 table. Freshfields India head Pratap Amin had retired in early 2017.
With a 5352% year-on-year increase in values to $1.3bn and 5 recorded deals, 2017 was a bumper year for Morgan Lewis & Bockius, which had not made the charts last year.
In 2017, Slaughters had grabbed a seat on the $12.2bn Vodafone-Idea deal table, which Freshfields had lost out on.
For the mergermarket rankings of the top 30-some domestic firms and the database's methodology, please check out our report from yesterday.
Value
Davis Polk & Wardwell acted on three deals worth $4.8bn and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian acted on only two deals worth $2.7bn pushing last year's third-ranker Linklaters off the value charts, having acted on 3 deals worth less than a million dollars.
Linklaters was, however, busier than Herbert Smith Freehills, which acted on two bigger deals worth a total of $1.1bn.
While three foreign law firms raked in a total deal value above $2bn, 10 others acted on deals summing up to at least $1bn: Allen & Gledhill, Shearman & Sterling, Ropes & Gray, Drinker Biddle & Reath Mayer Brown, Morrison & Foerster, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Morgan Lewis & Bockius Kobre & Kim, Herbert Smith Freehills and Latham & Watkins.
The last 14 ranks were taken by White & Case, Wong Partnership, Kirkland & Ellis, Borenius Attorneys, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Clayton Utz, Sidley Austin, Goodwin Procter, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Eversheds Sutherland, Allen & Overy, Bryan Cave, Locke Lord, The Giannuzzi Group, Yulchon and Nishimura & Asahi
Deal values reduced since 2016 for Herbert Smith Freehills, Latham & Watkins, White & Case Wong Partnership, Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Goodwin Procter and Allen & Overy.
Volume
Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher both topped the volumes league table, having acted on 5 deals in 2017, with only Morgan Lewis breaking into the top 10 by value.
Deal volumes stood significantly reduced since 2016 when DLA Piper had topped the charts with 10 deals.
By value: Mergermarket 2017 international firms M&A league table
| 2017 rank | 2016 rank | Firm | 2017 value ($m) | 2017 Deal Count | 2016 Value ($m) | % Val. Change |
| 1 | 7 | Slaughter and May | 13,692 | 4 | 8,471 | 61.60% |
| 2 | 14 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | 4,804 | 3 | 3,172 | 51.50% |
| 3 | - | Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian | 2,701 | 2 | - | - |
| 4 | 50 | Allen & Gledhill | 1,825 | 4 | 478 | 281.80% |
| 5 | 19 | Shearman & Sterling | 1,580 | 3 | 2,554 | -38.10% |
| 6 | - | Ropes & Gray | 1,415 | 2 | - | - |
| 7= | - | Drinker Biddle & Reath | 1,415 | 1 | - | - |
| 7= | - | Mayer Brown | 1,415 | 1 | - | - |
| 8 | 85 | Morrison & Foerster | 1,400 | 1 | 53 | 2541.50% |
| 9 | 84 | Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom | 1,345 | 2 | 54 | 2390.70% |
| 10 | 113 | Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 1,254 | 5 | 23 | 5352.20% |
| 11 | - | Kobre & Kim | 1,180 | 1 | - | - |
| 12 | 10 | Herbert Smith Freehills | 1,106 | 2 | 6,631 | -83.30% |
| 13 | 13 | Latham & Watkins | 1,039 | 3 | 3,271 | -68.20% |
| 14 | 26 | White & Case | 931 | 2 | 1,576 | -40.90% |
| 15 | 31 | WongPartnership | 925 | 2 | 1,129 | -18.10% |
| 16 | 11 | Kirkland & Ellis | 805 | 2 | 6,308 | -87.20% |
| 17 | - | Borenius Attorneys | 731 | 1 | - | - |
| 18 | - | Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy | 729 | 1 | - | - |
| 19 | 22 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | 350 | 2 | 2,125 | -83.50% |
| 20= | - | Clayton Utz | 300 | 1 | - | - |
| 20= | 102 | Sidley Austin | 300 | 1 | 35 | 757.10% |
| 21 | 40 | Goodwin Procter | 246 | 4 | 829 | -70.30% |
| 22 | - | Gibson Dunn & Crutcher | 231 | 5 | - | - |
| 23 | 90 | Eversheds Sutherland | 226 | 3 | 48 | 370.80% |
| 24 | 34 | Allen & Overy | 200 | 2 | 980 | -79.60% |
| 25= | - | Bryan Cave | 171 | 1 | - | - |
| 25= | - | Locke Lord | 171 | 1 | - | - |
| 26 | - | The Giannuzzi Group | 165 | 1 | - | - |
| 27 | - | Yulchon | 152 | 1 | - | - |
| 28 | - | Nishimura & Asahi | 147 | 1 | - | - |
By volume: Mergermarket 2017 international firms M&A league table
| 2017 rank | 2016 rank | Firm | 2017 Value ($m) | 2017 Deal Count | 2016 Deal Count | Deal Count Change |
| 1 | 38 | Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 1,254 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 2 | - | Gibson Dunn & Crutcher | 231 | 5 | - | - |
| 3 | 31 | Slaughter and May | 13,692 | 4 | 5 | -1 |
| 4 | 57 | Allen & Gledhill | 1,825 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | 45 | Goodwin Procter | 246 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 6 | 49 | Baker McKenzie | 140 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | 79 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | 4,804 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | 17 | Shearman & Sterling | 1,580 | 3 | 9 | -6 |
| 9 | 29 | Latham & Watkins | 1,039 | 3 | 6 | -3 |
| 10 | 52 | Eversheds Sutherland | 226 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | 14 | DLA Piper | 133 | 3 | 13 | -10 |
| 12 | - | Squire Patton Boggs | 115 | 3 | - | - |
| 13 | - | Raposo Bernardo & Associados | 40 | 3 | - | - |
| 14 | 32 | Linklaters | 39 | 3 | 5 | -2 |
| 15 | - | Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian | 2,701 | 2 | - | - |
| 16 | - | Ropes & Gray | 1,415 | 2 | - | - |
| 17 | 67 | Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom | 1,345 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 18 | 28 | Herbert Smith Freehills | 1,106 | 2 | 6 | -4 |
| 19 | 21 | White & Case | 931 | 2 | 7 | -5 |
| 20 | 54 | WongPartnership | 925 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | 40 | Kirkland & Ellis | 805 | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| 22 | 46 | Jones Day | 397 | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| 23 | 41 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | 350 | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| 24 | 22 | Allen & Overy | 200 | 2 | 7 | -5 |
Data source: mergermarket