Unichem bid puts Slaughters top of City pack for M&As

Slaughter and May and Ashurst Morris Crisp are leading the City elite in the mergers and acquisition stakes so far this year, with respective roles in Unichem's £514.2 million bid for Lloyds Chemists.

Robert Stern is heading the Slaughters team, with Mark Wippell leading for Ashursts.

The Unichem deal puts the two firms well out in front of other top City names according to this week's issue of deals magazine Corporate Money.

The journal's table, featuring all deals of £1 million and above, contains a growing numbers of foreign firms. Many are US-based, as well as Dutch and Canadian firms and Irish practice JA Shaw & Sons. Indian firm Crawford Bailey features at number 62.

More foreign firms are also featured in the magazine's top 100 listing for 1995 - notably Australian practice Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks, which acted for Australian mining company CRA in a deal with RTZ. Linklaters & Paines, the 1995 table leaders in total deal value, acted for RTZ.

Adrienne Margolis, Corporate Money editor, said: "It's a sign of the increasing global reach of business that there are now more non UK-based firms in the table."

Corporate Money is beefing up its legal coverage after its relaunch on 31 January to focus more on information as a "business tool" for executives and advisers. The magazine will set up an editorial advisory board, which will include Dick Tyler, McKenna & Co corporate partner, and senior figures from Ernst & Young and Richard Ellis Corporate Finance.