Kirkland & Ellis emerged as the top legal adviser for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the global retail sector for 2020, having advised on 24 deals worth US$30.6bn. A total of 1,971 M&A deals were announced in the sector during 2020, marking a 42.5% decrease over the 3,430 deals announced in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Retail M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables 2020’, deal value decreased by 46.5% from US$308bn in 2019 to US$165bn in 2020.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only firm that managed to advise on more than 20 deals while also surpassing the US$30bn mark, whereas its peers failed to even touch US$20bn.

“The firm’s involvement in high value transactions helped it to secure the top spot by value, as it managed to advise on six billion-dollar deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn.”

Slaughter and May occupied the second position in GlobalData’s ranking of legal advisers for M&As in the global retail sector by value with three deals worth US$19.8bn, followed by Allen & Overy with 14 deals worth US$16.4bn and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison with 10 deals worth US$16.1bn.

Latham & Watkins occupied the second position in terms of volume having advised on 19 deals worth US$14.6bn, followed by Davis Polk & Wardwell with 18 deals worth US$14.7bn and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with 16 deals worth US$14.8bn.