Magic circle wins bigger share of M&As

DEALS: values tumble, but City firms are working on more of them around the world

The value of mergers and acquisition deals around Europe halved in the first six months of this year, but City firms are compensating by doing more of them, with magic circle firms Linklaters & Alliance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer leading the way, research has found.Freshfields has also led a charge by City firms up the global advice table.The pair topped the league from analysts Thomson Financial, with Linklaters working on 126 European deals worth $108 billion, and Freshfields 101 deals worth $104 billion.

In the same period last year, Linklaters was working on 113 deals worth $236 billion and Freshfields on 83 deals worth $180 billion.The same goes for Clifford Chance and Lovells, although Herbert Smith and Slaughter and May dipped.At the same time, several US firms have seen their European deals fall; Shearman & Sterling is doing a third fewer deals than last year, while Cleary Gottleib Steen & Hamilton is doing half the number.However, value of deals is considered more important than the number, as it reflects more complex work.Freshfields has jumped up the global table from 14th last year to third this to become the top City firm with 114 deals worth $121 billion.Clifford Chance has gone from 22 to fourth with 153 deals worth $119 billion, while Linklaters is fifth with 148 deals worth $111 billion.Andrew Towler