October 2, 2008 4:54 PM

Linklaters, Sullivan & Cromwell Lead in League Tables

Posted by Julie Triedman

Linklaters jumped from fourth place to the top spot in MergerMarket's quarterly deals tables, released today. Sullivan & Cromwell landed the #2 spot with a strong showing in bank and international transactions. MergerMarket tracked all counsel on announced deals from January through September, including counsel to principals and underwriters.

Deal advisors were especially busy on Asian transactions--the firms with strong Asian practices tended to come out ahead. Notable deals on this front included China Unicom's $30 billion takeover of China Netcom and BG Group plc's $16 billion takeover of Origin Energy Limited; Linklaters advised on both matters.

It was BHP Billiton Ltd's massive $190 billion hostile bid for Rio Tinto plc that launched Linklaters to the top position; the deal has kept the firm busy all year, says Matthew Middleditch, a senior M&A partner at the firm. (The merger, announced in February, still faces antitrust and European Commission hurdles. BHP has relied on Slaughter and May, which ranked tenth for the quarter, up from 35th in the same period last year.)

"There's little doubt that we've been helped by strong practice across the globe, and particularly in Asia," says Middleditch. Middleditch notes that the firm was recently tapped by two Indian companies in their moves to acquire U.K. companies; announced deals included Indian oil company ONGC's $2.9 billion offer for Imperial Energy Corp. and Infosys Technologies in its bid for Axon Group.

Overall, for the first nine months of 2008, global M&A was down 26 percent (as measured by deal value), while buyouts dropped nearly three-quarters globally, MergerMarket reports. But third-quarter M&A deal value actually rose over the second quarter, while buyouts slowed to a trickle as the credit crunch squeezed private equity firms' ability to finance them.

The MergerMarket report predicts U.S. M&A activity will outperform European deals in the near term, driven mostly by contraction in the banking industry. The current banking crisis has most benefited firms like Sullivan & Cromwell, which has had a hand in many of the key deals announced this past month.

Sullivan & Cromwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom handled most of the U.S.-sided deals over the past nine months, and the two firms ranked first and second, respectively, in deal value this quarter. That's largely due to the role each firm played on one of the year's biggest transactions, InBev SA's $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, announced in July. (The deal recently won InBev shareholder approval and is next going before Anheuser-Busch's board).

Globally, in private equity-sided matters, Kirkland & Ellis, a perennial leader, had a hand in the most deals--59, worth a total of $8.1 billion. Ranked by value, the Brits took the top four spots, with Linklaters again commanding the lead with deal work totalling $21 billion. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was the top-ranked U.S. firm by value, at $15 billion.

Related: Linklaters Beats Rivals to Top of Global M&A Rankings for Q3

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