By Godson Umejiego, Correspondent USA

Sullivan & Cromwell and White & Case were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) legal advisers in the construction sector for Q1-Q3 2020 by value and volume, respectively. A total of 2,118 M&A deals were announced in the construction sector during the period, according to a leading data and analytics company, GlobalData.

According to GlobalData’s M&A report, ‘Global and Construction M&A Report Legal Adviser League Tables Q1-Q3 2020’, there was a 21.5 per cent decrease over 2,697 deals that were announced during Q1-Q3 2019. Deal value also decreased by 51.4 per cent from US$320bn in Q1-Q3 2019 to US$156bn in Q1-Q3 2020.

In GlobalData’s ranking, Sullivan & Cromwell secured the top position in terms of deal value by advising on five deals worth US$26.5billion, which was the highest value among all the advisers. Meanwhile, White & Case led in volume terms having advised on 16 deals worth US$21.8billon.

Lead Analyst at GlobalData, Aurojyoti Bose comments: “Most of the top ten advisers by value showcased deal value higher than US$20billon and competition for the top position was intense. Sullivan & Cromwell advised on three billion-dollar deals worth greater than or equal to US$1billion, out of which one was a megadeal worth greater than or equal to US$10bn, which helped the firm top the list by value.

“While Sullivan & Cromwell did not appear among the top ten advisers by volume, White & Case, that led in terms of number of deals, also managed to occupy the fifth position by value.”

Kirkland & Ellis occupied the second position by value with 12 deals worth US$25.7bn, followed by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton with four deals worth US$25bn and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer with seven deals worth US$22.3bn.

Latham & Watkins occupied the second position by volume with 14 deals worth US$8.5bn, followed by Jones Day with 14 deals worth US$0.8bn.