White & Case takes lead on global deals amid 1H M&A surge

Summary
Companies
Law Firms

Firm advised on $363.7 bln in deals in the first half, more than 2020 leader Latham.
Goodwin tops charts for most deals, barely beating Kirkland
M&A activity driving Big Law compensation race

RALEIGH, NC (Reuters) – With an M&A boom revealing no sign of a slowdown, White & Case has taken the top spot among law firms advising on global deals as ranked by deal value, according to data from Refinitiv for the first half of 2021.

Goodwin Procter is the top firm by number of worldwide deals, advising on 460 transactions.

Refinitiv tracked a total of 30,196 announced global M&A deals in the first half of the year, a 29% increase from 1H 2020. The combined value of the transactions was $311.8 trillion.

New York-based White & Case worked on 264 deals valued at $363.7 billion combined. Among those, it advised Fusion Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in its $2.4 billion purchase of fintech firm MoneyLion, and Sempra Energy in its $3.37 billion sale of its infrastructure arm interest to KKR in April.

Sullivan & Cromwell; Latham & Watkins; Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett and Cravath, Swaine & Moore trailed White & Case by total worldwide deal values.

Latham was the top-ranked legal adviser for global M&A for all of 2020 by value with $470 billion in deals.

The Refinitiv data includes all deals on which the firms advised, not just those for which they were principal adviser.

Goodwin Procter, opens new tab, whose 460 deals totaled $91.6 billion, edged out Kirkland & Ellis by a single transaction for the first half. Goodwin supported advise online lfinishing startup SoFi on its $8.65 billion combination with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp in January.

Latham, White & Case and Sidley Austin were ranked third, fourth and fifth behind Goodwin and Kirkland by number of worldwide deals.

Global M&A activity broke records for a second consecutive quarter in Q2 as companies continued to borrow cheaply and spfinish their cash reserves on transformative deals to reposition themselves for the post-COVID world.

Deals worth $1.5 trillion were announced in the three months to June 30, more than any second quarter on record and up 13% from the record first quarter of the year, despite lessening activity among blank-check firms, Refinitiv data reveals.

“These high levels of activity will likely continue through the summer,” Alison Harding-Jones, head of M&A for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Citigroup, informed Reuters, opens new tab last week.

The deal-building frenzy has created intense demand, opens new tab for associate talent at top corporate law firms in New York and elsewhere, driving widespread bonus announcements and salary increases, as well as concerns over lawyer burnout.

Dealbuildrs drown in deals in second-quarter M&A frenzy, opens new tab

Elite N.Y. firms are in a battle for talent. Could they all be losing?, opens new tab

SPAC spree continues for law firm quartet with $8.65 bln SoFi deal, opens new tab

Latham leads deal advisor rankings as M&A hits Q1 high, opens new tab

Goodwin Procter leads Q1 pack for mid-market M&A, opens new tab

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