45% reduction for EU 2009 M&A

The number of mandates dipped to 15,051 transactions against the previous year’s 15,442. Total deal value slipped by 45% on 2008 (which itself was down 27.9% on 2007) to $823.1bn. This is the lowest level of M&A since 2003, highlighting that the economic problems are continuing to worsen.

 The European M&A market fell by 45% in value terms last year with just three independent law firms making the Thomson Reuters rankings.

Hengeler Mueller and Uria Menendez were the main winners from Continental Europe. Hengeler was the highest-placed regional firm, coming in 12th position in the overall European table. The German corporate leader worked on 52 deals valued at $53.5bn during the last calendar year. Uria was in 15th place with 44 deals worth $45.1bn. Iberian rival Cuatrecasas, which was the highest-placed independent last year in 21st, slipped to 23rd.

Anglo-Saxon firms dominated the top 11 places. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which knocked Linklaters into second, was the top-ranked firm with 187 deals valued at $286bn. This figure was up by 7.4% on 2008. Slaughter and May capped of a strong year by securing third-place in the table with a jump of 18.9% in deal value.

Germany was the most lucrative market by value with $132.5bn of deals with value down by 27%, the lowest amongst the research. The Nordic market had the most deals – 1,849 – but also the most substantial drop in value (53.3%). Italian M&A not only had the lowest volume ($56.3bn down 44.6% on 2008) but the fewest transactions, just 891.