For the 2nd year in a row, Sullivan & Cromwell was the top legal dog in M&A:
The New York-based firm advised on $330 billion in transactions this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News as of Dec. 28. Procter & Gamble Co.’s $57.3 billion purchase of razor maker Gillette Co. and Gas Natural SDG SA’s plan to buy Endesa SA for $51.4 billion was almost a third of the total.
“The level of activity has been building up the last month or two,” said Frank Aquila, a Sullivan & Cromwell partner. “We have a very strong pipeline headed into 2006, as do most of the M&A law firms and the investment banks.”
Law firms benefited from this year’s 31 percent surge in the value of all mergers and acquisitions to $2.58 trillion, behind only 1999 and a record $2.95 trillion in 2000. The value of deals Sullivan & Cromwell advised on rose 19 percent from last year. The No. 2 firm, London-based Clifford Chance, saw its total jump 78 percent to $328.3 billion.
Here are the rankings for 2005:
Top-Ranked M&A Law Firms for 2005
Firm Value of Deals (in billions)
Sullivan & Cromwell $330.3
Clifford Chance $328.3
Freshfields Bruckhaus $301.7
Linklaters $260.0
Jones Day $259.4
Simpson Thacher $253.8
Wachtell Lipton $248.0
Skadden Arps $237.5
Cleary Gottlieb $197.0
Osler Hoskin $195.4Based on data compiled as of Dec. 28, 2005
Sullivan & Cromwell Tops M&A Legal Adviser Rankings a 2nd Year – Bloomberg
Tags: Law firms
