Two locally connected firms, Jones Day and DLA Piper, snagged the top two spots in Thomson Reuters’ most recent Mergers & Acquisitions Review, which ranks legal advisers by number of deals completed worldwide this year.
Jones Day closed 165 deals in the first six months of the year, though that’s one fewer than the firm closed during the same period in 2009.
DLA Piper came in at 102 deals, 25 fewer than during the same period last year.
No other Atlanta-connected firms made the worldwide completed deals list, although Alston & Bird got a toehold on the bottom of a ranking of announced—as opposed to completed—U.S. deals. The firm came in 23rd of 25 firms on a list of most deals in which either the target or the acquirer was U.S.-based, handling 13 deals—14 fewer than last year. Despite the smaller volume, that ranking represented a leap up the ladder for Alston, which was ranked 41st in the same category in 2009. Jones Day ranked 10th on the same list, with 92 deals completed, nine fewer than last year.
The Thomson Reuters review also examines, among other things, the growth or decline of overall worldwide mergers and acquisitions. According to their analysis, the value of deals in the first half of 2010 totaled $1.1 trillion, a more than 9 percent increase from first half 2009 levels. The number of deals rose nearly 4 percent, with more than 19,000 announced.
Deals involving companies in emerging markets accounted for nearly one-third of the total value of transactions, with the energy and power industry the most active sector. Private equity M&A more than doubled, accounting for about 7 percent of the value of deals done.
Finally, the report looked at the biggest pending worldwide deals so far this year. Number five on that list was the announced union of The Coca-Cola Co. and Coca-Cola Enterprises North America, valued at $13.4 billion. Firms handling that deal are Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for Coca-Cola; Cahill Gordon & Reindel for CCE. McKenna Long & Aldridge partners Clay C. Long, F.T. “Tread” Davis Jr. and David Brown are representing a special committee of CCE’s directors.