Slaughter and May and Watson Farley & Williams were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the power sector for Q1-Q3 2020 by value and volume, respectively. A total of 1,340 M&A deals were announced in power sector during the period, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s M&A report, ‘Global and Power M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1-Q3 2020’, there was a 27.2% decrease over 1,340 deals that were announced during Q1–Q3 2019. Deal value also decreased by 19.5% from $188bn in Q1–Q3 2019 to $151bn in Q1–Q3 2020.

In GlobalData’s ranking, Slaughter and May secured top position in terms of value by advising on four deals worth $9bn, which was the highest value among all advisers. Meanwhile, Watson Farley & Williams led in volume terms having advised on 27 deals worth $5.4bn.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Watson Farley & Williams was the only company in the ranking to advise on more than 20 deals. It also managed to feature in the list of top ten advisors by value, occupying seventh position.

“Slaughter and May led in terms of value due to its involvement in two deals worth greater than or equal to $1bn, but could not find a place among the top ten advisors by volume.”

Slaughter and May was closely followed by Allen & Overy, which advised on 12 deals worth $8.5bn and occupied second position in terms of value, followed by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with five deals worth $8.5bn and Cravath Swaine & Moore with three deals worth $6.8bn.

White & Case occupied the second position by volume with 18 deals worth $4.9bn, followed by Baker McKenzie and CMS with 17 deals each worth $5.3bn and $1bn, respectively.