The Deal Announces Results Of 2014 M&A League Tables

2014 A Banner Year for M&A

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Feb 17, 2015, 04:54 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Deal, TheStreet's (NASDAQ: TST) institutional business, announced the results of its rankings of the top firms and professionals involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the full year of 2014. The U.S. M&A market had a record year in 2014, with top activity in healthcare, oil and gas and technology, while Europe had its most active year at home and in the U.S. since 2008.

"2014 was a terrific year for M&A. It was a record year in pharma and oil and gas and a very strong one in tech. Private equity firms were active as well, though not necessarily on buyouts of public companies," said David Marcus, senior writer for legal issues at The Deal. "2015 is off to a strong start as well, though the steep decline in oil prices could well chill deal activity in that sector."

League Table highlights:

Top law firms included Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP with 91 total deals; Kirkland & Ellis LLP with 84 total deals; Latham & Watkins LLP with 78 total deals; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP with 58 total deals and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP with 55 total deals.
Top law firms representing investment advisers included White & Case LLP with 47 total deals; Sullivan & Cromwell LLP with 23 total deals; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP with 21 total deals; Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP with 20 total deals and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP with 19 total deals.
Top Delaware law firms included Richards, Layton & Finger PA with 68 total deals; followed by Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP with 46 total deals and Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP with 25 total deals.
Top investment advisers included Goldman, Sachs & Co. with 124 total deals; Barclays Capital with 98 total deals; JPMorgan Chase & Co. with 97 total deals; Morgan Stanley with 83 total deals and Bank of America Merrill Lynch with 82 total deals.
Top proxy solicitors/information agents included Georgeson Inc. with 54 total deals; MacKenzie Partners Inc. with 54 total deals; Innisfree M&A Inc. with 52 total deals; D.F. King & Co. with 36 total deals; Okapi Partners LLC with 18 total deals and Morrow & Co. LLC with 11 deals.
The top public relations firms were Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher with 101 total deals; Sard Verbinnen & Co. with 84 total deals; Brunswick Group LLP with 38 total deals; Abernathy MacGregor Group Inc. with 35 deals and and Kekst and Co. with 34 total deals.

The full report is available online.

About The Deal's M&A League Tables
Rankings include the names of lead M&A and/or corporate partners at law firms that represented the principals and investment advisers. Only deals involving a change of control of a target company with a market value of $100 million or more are included, and only when a key party involved is a U.S. company. Unless the target is a recognized stand-alone operating business, rankings will not include asset sales, unit sales, sales of subsidiaries, spin-offs or joint ventures. Deals with undisclosed transactions values are not eligible. The Deal's M&A League Tables, which come out each quarter, are cumulative across the year.

About The Deal
The Deal is a media and relationship capital company providing over 100,000 users with business opportunities sourced from proprietary deal news and a relationship discovery tool. Law firms, investment banks, private equity and hedge funds use The Deal's insight and analysis about potential and announced transactions to find their next deal and BoardEx's service and database for building relationships. The Deal is the institutional arm of TheStreet, Inc. and has offices in New York, London, Washington, D.C., Petaluma, CA and Chennai, India. For more information, visit www.thedeal.com.

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