GLOBAL DEALS: performance of UK firms highlights importance of European market

City firms are standing their ground in the global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market despite a slight slowdown overall.

The latest Thomson Financial figures on announced M&A deals worldwide for the first three quarters of 2003 show Linklaters and Clifford Chance in third and fourth place behind US firms Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Sullivan & Cromwell.

Linklaters advised on 162 deals worth a total of $85 billion (51 billion), which was $42 billion below the top position.

Just behind, Clifford Chance's 201 deals came in at $83 billion.

Allen & Overy was eighth in the table - the same position as it held this time last year - while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Ashurst Morris Crisp, Herbert Smith and Slaughter and May all made it into the top 25.

The market overall is down 3.6% from this time last year.

Linklaters is in pole position in the UK for completed deals, with Clifford Chance second.

Clifford Chance corporate partner David Pearson said: 'The high presence of UK firms in the global deals league indicates the importance of the European M&A market at the moment, rather than the US market.'

He added: 'It has been a quiet year, and deals have been difficult to do, because they have taken longer from start to finish.

We have also seen a much larger number of deals which have been started and then been aborted.'

Linklaters' global head of corporate, David Cheyne, said: 'There are some slight signs that the market is picking up now, but we may not see this reflected in the stats until late in the next quarter or early next year.

The UK firms are doing reasonably well and are keeping a decent market share.'

European M&A figures released this week by Mergermarket confirmed the dominance of UK firms in the European market - and of Clifford Chance and Linklaters in particular.

With 112 billion (78 billion), Clifford Chance knocked Linklaters into second place this quarter, followed by Freshfields and then Allen & Overy.

UK firms topped several national deal tables on the continent - Allen & Overy had the highest deal value in the Benelux region and in the Netherlands, Freshfields in Germany, Linklaters in France and Clifford Chance in Spain and Portugal.

Deal value is seen as more important than number, as the higher-value deals are more complex.

Rachel Rothwell