Sullivan & Cromwell and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the financial services sector for Q1-Q3 2021 by value and volume, respectively. Sullivan & Cromwell advised on 31 deals worth US$64.6bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms having advised on 51 deals worth US$13.5bn. A total of 2,804 M&A deals were announced in the sector during Q1-Q3 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Financial Services M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1-Q3 2021’, deal value for the region increased by 55.9% from US$272bn during Q1-Q3 2020 to US$424bn during Q1-Q3 2021.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only firm to advise on more than 50 deals. However, it lagged behind its peers in terms of deal value due to its involvement in low-value deals. Surprisingly, it also did not feature among the top ten advisers by value.”

“In contrast, Sullivan & Cromwell, which advised on fewer but big-ticket deals, was the only adviser to surpass US$60bn in total deal value. While Sullivan & Cromwell managed to advise on 14 billion-dollar deals (valued more than or equal to US$1bn) that also included one deal valued more than US$10bn, Kirkland & Ellis only advised on four deals valued more than US$1bn.”

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz occupied the second position in terms of value with 22 deals worth US$51.9bn, followed by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with 39 deals worth US$49.4bn, Cravath Swaine & Moore with seven deals worth US$45.1bn and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett occupied fifth position with 29 deals worth US$43.5bn.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied the second position in terms of volume, followed by Alston & Bird with 38 deals worth US$6.8bn. Sullivan & Cromwell ranked fourth in terms of volume and Willkie Farr & Gallagher occupied fifth position with 31 deals worth US$10.5bn.