Skadden and Kirkland & Ellis have emerged as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the technology, media and telecom sector for the first nine months (Q1-Q3) of 2024 , according to the latest legal advisers league table by GlobalData.
GlobalData, a data and analytics company, ranks legal advisers by the total value and number of M&A deals they have advised on.
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According to GlobalData’s deals database, Skadden advised on transactions worth $121.7bn, securing the top spot in terms of deal value.
Kirkland & Ellis, on the other hand, advised on 120 deals, making it the top firm by volume.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only adviser to hit triple-digit deal volume during Q1-Q3 2024. It also outpaced its peers by a significant margin in terms of deal volume.
“Meanwhile, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was among the only two advisers that managed to surpass $100bn total deal value mark. Due to involvement in big-ticket deals, it registered a massive 60.8% growth in the total value of deals advised by it during Q1-Q3 2024 compared to Q1-Q3 2023.
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By GlobalData“Resultantly, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s ranking by value also improved from the third position during Q1-Q3 2023 to the top position during Q1-Q3 2024. It advised on 15 billion-dollar deals during Q1-Q3 2024 that also included five mega deals valued more than $10bn.”
In the value category, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison followed Skadden, advising on deals amounting to $107.1bn.
Kirkland & Ellis also featured in this category with $75.3bn worth of advised deals.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised on $65bn and $46.5bn worth of deals, respectively, rounding out the top five by value.
In terms of volume, CMS took the second position with 58 deals.
It was followed by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with 48 deals, Latham & Watkins with 44, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with 43 deals.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory company websites and other reliable sources available in the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness of the data, the company also seeks deal submissions from leading advisers.
