Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and CMS were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in Europe for 2020 by value and volume, respectively. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised on 76 deals worth US$157.8bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, CMS led in volume terms having advised on 244 deals worth US$18bn. A total of 9,194 M&A deals were announced in Europe during 2020, marking a 11.9% decrease over the 10,436 deals announced in 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Europe M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables 2020’, deal value increased by 3% from US$789bn in 2019 to US$813bn in 2020.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “CMS was among the only two firms, the other firm being Baker McKenzie, that managed to advise on more than 200 deals. What is interesting, however, is the fact that both of these firms failed to feature in the list of top 10 advisors by value.

“In contrast, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised on fewer deals but had high-value transactions and was also the sole adviser to surpass the US$150bn mark. The firm advised on four mega-deals that were worth more than or equal to US$10bn, while CMS did not advise on any mega-deals.”

Allen & Overy occupied the second position in GlobalData’s ranking of legal advisers for M&As in Europe by value with 184 deals worth a total US$143.6bn, followed by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton with 48 deals worth US$124.8bn and Clifford Chance with 116 deals worth US$120.2bn.

Baker McKenzie occupied the second position by volume with 210 deals worth US$29.1bn, followed by Allen & Overy.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and CMS also remained as top advisers by value and volume in the UK – the key European market.