Here are the top Australasian M&A legal advisers for 1Q2018

M&A booms on the back of fewer but larger deals

Here are the top Australasian M&A legal advisers for 1Q2018

Dealmakers made fewer but larger deals in the first quarter of 2018, boosting M&A in Australia and New Zealand more than 83% compared to the first quarter of last year.

There were 396 deals valued at US$36.23bn announced in 1Q2018, according to the latest league tables from Bloomberg. In the comparable quarter last year, there were 402 deals valued at US$19.75bn.

Baker McKenzie made a massive jump in the first quarter to lead all other legal advisers in M&A deals with US$11.03bn worth of deals under its belt. Next was DLA Piper, which was not even in the top 20 advisers in terms of deal value in 1Q2017, with US$10.37bn. Danish law firm Kromann Reumert secured the third spot with US$10.05bn of deals.

Another returnee to the top 20 by deal value is King & Wood Mallesons with US$7.79bn. The firm is followed by Herbert Smith Freehills, which completes the top five with US$6.39bn worth of deals.

In terms of deal count, Herbert Smith Freehills leads with 24 deals, followed by Allens with 16, King & Wood Mallesons with 15, Gilbert + Tobin with 11, and MinterEllison with 10 deals.

Below are the top legal advisers for announced Australia and New Zealand M&A ranked by deal value and deal count for the first quarters of 2018 and 2017.

Top 20 legal advisers - 1Q2018 by deal value

  1. Baker McKenzie – US$11.03bn
  2. DLA Piper – US$10.37bn
  3. Kromann Reumert – US$10.05bn
  4. King & Wood Mallesons – US$7.79bn
  5. Herbert Smith Freehills – US$6.39bn
  6. Allens – US$5.84bn
  7. Ashurst – US$1.48
  8. Norton Rose Fulbright – US$1.46bn
  9. Gilbert + Tobin – US$1.34bn
  10. Clayton Utz – US$1.31bn
  11. Watson Mangioni – US$1.17bn
  12. Davis Polk & Wardwell – US$1.17bn
  13. Blake Cassels & Graydon – US$1.16
  14. Latham & Watkins – US$1.02bn
  15. Linklaters – US$999m
  16. Morrison & Foerster – US$816m
  17. Cravath Swaine & Moore – US$816m
  18. Pacific Equity Partners – US$520m
  19. Corrs Chambers Westgarth – US$450m
  20. MinterEllison – US$398m

Top 20 legal advisers - 1Q2018 by deal count

  1. Herbert Smith Freehills – 24
  2. Allens – 16
  3. King & Wood Mallesons – 15
  4. Gilbert + Tobin – 11
  5. MinterEllison – 10
  6. Ashurst – 7
  7. Baker McKenzie – 6
  8. Corrs Chambers Westgarth – 6
  9. Jones Day – 6
  10. Norton Rose Fulbright – 4
  11. Blake Cassels & Graydon – 4
  12. Bell Gully – 4
  13. HWL Ebsworth – 4
  14. Goodwin Procter – 3
  15. DLA Piper – 2
  16. Clayton Utz – 2
  17. Linklaters – 2
  18. Kirkland & Ellis – 2
  19. Allen & Overy – 2
  20. K&L Gates – 2

Top 20 legal advisers - 1Q2017 by deal value

  1. Herbert Smith Freehills – US$7.61bn
  2. Allens – US$3.17bn
  3. Allen & Overy – US$08bn
  4. Gilbert + Tobin – US$3.06bn
  5. Baker McKenzie  – US$2.73bn
  6. Linklaters – US$2.6bn
  7. Clifford Chance – US$2.44bn
  8. Ashurst  – US$1.7bn
  9. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – US$1.58bn
  10. MinterEllison – US$832m
  11. Bell Gully – US$596m
  12. HWL Ebsworth            – US$458m
  13. Corrs Chambers Westgarth – US$453m
  14. Kirkland & Ellis – US$445m
  15. Goodwin Procter – US$425m
  16. Allion Legal – US$253m
  17. Chapman Tripp – US$234m
  18. Sullivan & Cromwell – US$217m
  19. Bae Kim & Lee – US$189m
  20. Jones Day – US$124m
Top 20 legal advisers - 1Q2017 by deal count
  1. MinterEllison – 17
  2. Herbert Smith Freehills – 14
  3. Gilbert + Tobin – 14
  4. HWL Ebsworth – 10
  5. Corrs Chambers Westgarth – 9
  6. Baker McKenzie – 8
  7. Allens – 6
  8. Clifford Chance – 5
  9. Chapman Tripp – 5
  10. Bell Gully – 4
  11. Jones Day – 4
  12. Norton Rose Fulbright – 4
  13. Allen & Overy – 3
  14. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer – 3
  15. DLA Piper – 3
  16. Linklaters – 2
  17. Ashurst – 2
  18. Kirkland & Ellis – 2
  19. Goodwin Procter – 1
  20. Allion Legal – 1

 

Related stories:
Here are the top legal advisors in Australian M&A last year
Australia year-to-date inbound M&A jumps 27.5%
 

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