Legal advisers Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis were noted to be the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the global information and communication technology (ICT) sector in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Davis Polk & Wardwell advised on 22 deals worth US$27.1bn, which was the highest among all advisers. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms having advised on 65 deals worth US$20.4bn during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison occupied the second position by value with 26 deals worth US$26.4bn followed by Clifford Chance with ten deals worth US$26.2bn. Fenwick & West occupied the second position by volume with 64 deals worth US$19.8bn followed by Latham & Watkins with 50 deals worth US$4.5bn.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Despite advising on around three times more deals than value category winner Davis Polk & Wardwell, Kirkland & Ellis lost the top position by value and had to settle for seventh. Apart from Kirkland & Ellis, only two other firms among the top ten by volume were able to feature in the value-ranked list.

“Meanwhile, Davis Polk & Wardwell advised on relatively fewer but higher-value deals, which helped it secure the top position by value. The firm managed to advise on seven deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn.”

The number of deals announced in the global ICT sector decreased by 7.3% from 9,804 in H1 2019 to 9,084 in H1 2020, according to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database. Deal value decreased by 31.3% from US$355bn in H1 2019 to US$243.8bn in H1 2020.

Davis Polk & Wardwell, which topped the ICT sector deals league table by value, stood at eleventh position (by value) in the recently released global league table of top 20 M&A legal advisers by GlobalData. Similarly, Kirkland & Ellis, which topped the ICT sector league table by volume, also occupied the top position (by volume) in the global league table.