Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw storms the M&A rankings
UK firms Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance have also shot up the rankings, despite European acquisitions in the US dropping to their lowest level since 1995.
While Mayer Brown's spectacular rise could be attributed to the benefits of its 2002 US/UK merger, it should be noted that the bulk of its total was down to one deal. The firm advised Devon Energy on its $5bn (£3.19bn) acquisition of Ocean Energy. Mayer Brown advised on only one other transaction.
Like Mayer Brown, Allen & Overy advised on only two announced deals in the four-month period. The firm's advice for Bank of New York's $2bn (£1.28bn) deal for finance house Pershing accounts for more than half of its total.
Clifford Chance worked on five deals during the period. The largest was Johnson & Johnson's acquisition of biopharmaceutical company Scios for $2.5bn (£1.6bn).
Linklaters was the only UK firm to fall. It dropped two places with deal total down 64.8 per cent.
Of the US firms, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has shot to the top spot from tenth place. It advised on both the Scios and Pershing deals, as well as on the $3.5bn (£2.23bn) Taubman Centers deal.
| Top 20 firms by announced US M&A deals | ||||||||||
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| 1/1/03-31/3/03 | 1/1/03-31/3/03 | Change in rank value (%) | ||||||||
| Adviser | Rank | Rank value $bn (£bn) | Market share | Number of deals | Rank | Rank value $bn (£bn) | Rank value $bn (£bn) | |||
| Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | 1 | 11.60 (7.40) | 17.2 | 18 | 10 | 11.88 (7.58) | -2.4 | |||
| Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom | 2 | 9.24 (5.90) | 13.7 | 19 | 1 | 24.21 (15.45) | -61.8 | |||
| Sullivan & Cromwell | 3 | 8.91 (5.68) | 13.2 | 14 | 4 | 14.85 (9.47) | -40.0 | |||
| Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell | 4 | 8.43 (5.38) | 12.5 | 4 | 19 | 6.53 (4.17) | 28.9 | |||
| Debevoise & Plimpton | 5 | 7.74 (4.94) | 11.4 | 8 | 14 | 7.62 (4.86) | 1.5 | |||
| Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz | 6 | 6.75 (4.31) | 10.0 | 2 | 11 | 10.60 (6.76) | -36.4 | |||
| Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw | 7 | 5.00 (3.19) | 7.4 | 2 | 39 | 1.36 (0.87) | 268.5 | |||
| Weil Gotshal & Manges | 8 | 4.73 (3.02) | 7.0 | 48 | 18 | 6.61 (4.22) | -28.5 | |||
| Jones Day | 9 | 4.64 (2.96) | 6.9 | 55 | 24 | 5.20 (3.32) | -10.7 | |||
| Allen & Overy | 10 | 3.67 (2.34) | 5.4 | 2 | 23 | 5.34 (3.41) | -31.3 | |||
| Shearman & Sterling | 11 | 3.66 (2.33) | 5.4 | 6 | 28 | 3.85 (2.46) | -5.0 | |||
| Willkie Farr & Gallagher | 12 | 3.60 (2.30) | 5.3 | 4 | 16 | 7.53 (4.80) | -52.2 | |||
| Arnold & Porter | 13 | 3.41 (2.18) | 5.1 | 2 | 20 | 6.33 (4.04) | -46.0 | |||
| Latham & Watkins | 14 | 3.40 (2.17) | 5.0 | 18 | 30 | 3.57 (2.28) | -4.9 | |||
| Cravath Swaine & Moore | 15 | 3.37 (2.15) | 5.0 | 3 | 17 | 7.39 (4.72) | -54.4 | |||
| Clifford Chance | 16 | 3.00 (1.91) | 4.4 | 5 | 25 | 4.91 (3.13) | -38.9 | |||
| Linklaters | 17 | 2.67 (1.70) | 3.9 | 3 | 15 | 7.58 (4.84) | -64.8 | |||
| Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati | 18 | 2.55 (1.63) | 3.8 | 25 | 44 | 0.96 (0.61) | 165.5 | |||
| Dorsey & Whitney | 19 | 1.70 (1.08) | 2.5 | 17 | 77 | 0.27 (0.17) | 529.0 | |||
| Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 20 | 1.64 (1.05) | 2.4 | 8 | 80 | 0.20 (0.13) | 715.3 | |||
| Source: Thomson Financial | ||||||||||
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