Baker McKenzie and Veirano Advogados were noted to be the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in South & Central America in the first half (H1) of 2020, based on deal value and volume, respectively. Baker McKenzie advised on six deals worth US$2.3bn, which was the highest among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Veirano Advogados led in volume terms having advised on 15 deals worth US$65.1m during H1, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Aurojyoti Bose, Financial Deals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Veirano Advogados was the only advisor to have double-digit deal volume. Despite this, the company failed to make it to the list of top ten advisors by value – a list that included some firms that only advised on one deal only.”

“Involvement in big ticket deals remain the key as advising on four deals valued more than US$100m, including one deal worth greater than or equal to US$1bn, helped Baker McKenzie top the chart by value.”

Brigard & Urrutia and DLA Piper were joint second mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in South & Central America for H1 by value with one deal worth US$1.6bn each. By volume, Mattos Filho occupied the second position with eight deals worth US$1.3bn followed by Cescon Barrieu Flesch & Barreto Advogados with seven deals worth US$1.2bn, according to GlobalData.

The number of deals announced in South & Central America decreased by 24.6% from 619 in H1 2019 to 467 in H1 2020, according to GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database. Deal value also decreased by 71.1% from US$42.1bn in H1 2019 to US$12.2bn in H1 2020.