Lefosse Advogados and Demarest Advogados were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in South & Central America for Q1 2021 by value and volume, respectively. Lefosse Advogados advised on two deals worth US$9.5bn, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, Demarest Advogados led in volume terms having advised on four deals worth US$47m. A total of 190 M&A deals were announced in the region during Q1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and South & Central America M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1 2021’, reveals that deal value increased by 250% from US$12bn in Q1 2020 to US$42bn in Q1 2021 in the region.

Ravi Tokala, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The billion-dollar merger of Hapvida Health System with Notre Dame Intermedica played an instrumental role in the rankings by value. Interestingly, the top five advisers by value and top three advisers by volume were involved in this deal.

“Demarest Advogados, which occupied top spot in volume terms, did not even feature among the top ten advisers by value due to its involvement in low-value transactions.”

Madrona Advogados occupied the second position in terms of value with two deals worth US$9.3bn, followed by Pinheiro Neto Advogados, which occupied second position in terms of volume, with three deals worth US$9.1bn.

Machado Meyer Sendacz e Opice occupied the third position by volume with three deals worth US$1.5bn.