Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the global technology, media & telecom (TMT) sector for 2020 by value and volume, respectively. Latham & Watkins advised on 138 deals worth US$191.6bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis led in volume terms having advised on 256 deals worth US$127bn. While most of the sectors have been left struggling due to the impact of COVID-19, TMT showcased resilience and a total of 9,764 M&A deals were announced in the sector during 2020, marking an 16.9% increase over the 8,354 deals announced during 2019, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Technology, Media & Telecom M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables 2020’, deal value also increased by 33% from US$809bn in 2019 to US$1.1 trillion in 2020.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Kirkland & Ellis was the only firm that managed to advise on more than 200 deals, while also crossing the US$100bn mark. Resultantly, it also occupied the fourth position by value.

“Meanwhile, Latham & Watkins advised on relatively fewer deals but made more high-value transactions, which helped it top by value. It managed to advise on four mega deals (deal valued more than or equal to US$10bn), while Kirkland & Ellis advised on three mega deals. Latham & Watkins also managed to secure the second position in terms of volume.”

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom occupied the second position in GlobalData’s ranking of financial advisers for M&As in the global TMT sector by value with 64 deals worth US$151.9bn, followed by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz with 20 deals worth US$136.3bn.

Fenwick & West occupied the third position by volume with 128 deals worth US$29.6bn, followed by Goodwin Procter with 123 deals worth US$59.5bn.