The overview of the first half of 2012 from analysts Mergermarket – part of the Financial Times Group – showed that Canary Wharf-based firm climbed from ninth place to take the number one spot in the legal advisor league table by deal value.
Advising on deals totalling £26,194 million, CC easily overtook nearest competitor Freshfields, with the Anglo-German firm on £18,723m, Allen & Overy on £15,685m and Linklaters £15,073m.

Deal value

Despite being fourth on the list for deal value, Linklaters remained top of the table for total deals with 45. Clifford Chance came second, jumping from seventh on the list after its involvement in 37 deals. Freshfields was next with 34, with international firm Pinsent Masons following on 33.
Although UK M&A activity totalled £44.4 billion in the first half of 2012 – a 17 per cent increase compared with the first half of 2011 – several big-name firms lost ground in terms of deal value.
For example, despite ranking high in deals done, Freshfields was down by nearly 28 per cent in value, A&O dropped by about 43 per cent and Linklaters by 55.5 per cent. The big winners were Clifford Chance with a 271 per cent gain and the London office of New York firm Skadden, which leapt from 48th in the table to ninth with a value change of 522.9 per cent.

Energy boost

Energy, mining and utilities formed the most active sector, valued at £14.3bn over 26 deals.
The biggest deal of 2012 so far involved French electric utility company GDF Suez bidding for a 30.23 per cent stake in London electricity generator International Power, which was valued at £6,840m. Linklaters and New York-based firm Weil Gotshal & Manges advised the buyers, while CC acted for the seller.