If there was any doubt that Europe’s major deal market is dominated by just a handful of players, Legal Week’s primary adviser deal rankings for 2007 comprehensively show the top four
The tables — which strip out secondary roles such as those for banks and financial advisers from Mergermarket’s 200 largest deals of last year — show Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Clifford Chance (CC), Linklaters and Allen & Overy (A&O) significantly ahead of their rivals by value and volume on European M&A.
However, the results are not as straightforward as they may first appear. While Freshfields has held on to its position at the top of the tables for both value and volume, by value it dropped significantly on last year and the firm did not take a lead role on a single deal in the 12 largest transactions. In contrast, CC, Linklaters and A&O all saw their overall deal value increase considerably and all worked on larger deals.
Linklaters’ performance will also provoke a mixed reaction. While its value ranking was significantly boosted by the €71bn (£53bn) takeover of ABN Amro by Royal Bank of
Linklaters corporate chief David Barnes told Legal Week: “It is probably true that we have tried to concentrate on our main clients and the top deals so we have not been able to go after all the deals we would have wanted to. That is where we are trying to take the firm — concentrating on the large domestic and cross-border deals.”
Conversely, A&O stands out for enjoying a huge boost in the number of deals it took lead roles on. Its position on 30 deals means it replaced Linklaters in the top three by volume, while the firm also gained ground in the value rankings thanks to roles including Imperial Tobacco’s €15bn (£11bn) takeover bid for Altadis. This came despite the firm missing out on the main role for the ABN takeover, as NautaDutilh was the lead adviser to the Dutch bank.
A&O corporate partner Jeremy Parr said: “The mega-deals attract the headlines, but it is always nice if you do well by both number of deals and value. We have had a very good 18 months and we have had a lot of deals for strategic players, which is always nice.”
Only five
Of these firms, Cleary was the strongest
CC corporate partner Adam Signy added: “
Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith are the only other
