Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Kirkland & Ellis have emerged as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the technology, media, and telecom sector for 2024, in terms of deal value and volume, respectively, 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, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom secured the top position by advising on deals worth $123.5bn.
Kirkland & Ellis advised on 160 deals in total, making it the top firm by volume.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by volume in 2023 and registered a 29% year-on-growth in the number of deals advised in 2024. In fact, it was the only adviser with triple-digit deal volume during the year. Apart from leading by volume, Kirkland & Ellis also held the third position by value.
“Meanwhile, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was among the only two advisers that managed to surpass $100bn mark in total deal value in 2024. Even though the number of deals advised by it mostly remained unchanged, it registered a massive growth in the total value of deals advised by it in 2024 compared to the previous year. This can also be understood from that fact that the average size of deals advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which stood at $1.9bn in 2023, jumped to around $3bn in 2024.
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By GlobalData“Resultantly, it went ahead from occupying the third position by value in 2023 to top the chart by this metric in 2024.”
In the value category, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison ranked second, advising on deals worth $115.8bn.
Kirkland & Ellis also featured in this category with $92.3bn worth of advised deals.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Latham & Watkins advised on $82bn and $58.7bn worth of deals, respectively.
In terms of volume, CMS secured the second position with 90 deals.
Latham & Watkins followed with 63 deals, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with 62, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with 61.
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.
