Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance tops Mergermarket's league tables for legal advisers to Global M&A

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance topped Mergermarket's league table of legal advisers for Global M&A by value during the first three quarters of 2012, advising on 152 deals worth £138,990m.

The Firm also topped the European (by value), UK (by value) and the Nordic region (by value) tables. Clifford Chance also made notable progress in the Americas too, ranking 4th by value in the Americas (up from 33 in Q3 2011) and 8th in the US by value (up from 41st in Q3 2011).

Clifford Chance advised on five of the top 10 deals this year including the two largest deals (Glencore/Xstrata and Kraft/Mondelez).

Matthew Layton, global head of the Clifford Chance corporate practice, commented:

"We are delighted to be ranked as the number one legal adviser globally by Mergermarket, which we hit in H1 and have maintained at  the end of Q3. Despite the impact of the global economic strain on deal volumes, we are seeing deal activity across a range of sectors and markets. This achievement shows that the compelling combination of our geographical and sector expertise with our leading M&A and corporate financing capabilities is enabling our clients to successfully execute deals in these challenging markets."

M&A deal highlights for Clifford Chance in 2012 include advising:

• The sponsors and financial advisers on Glencore International's acquisition of Xstrata, as well as a syndicate of lenders on a US$3.1 billion liquidity backstop facility for the proposed merger
• Mondelez International, Inc., formerly Kraft Foods Inc., on the spin off of its North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group
• Inc Anheuser-Busch Inbev on the bank financing of its $20.1bn acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo
• Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Private Limited (GIC)  on its US$700 million investment in China Pacific Insurance
• Pfizer on the sale of its nutrition business to Nestlé for US$11.85 billion in cash
• The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc on the sale of the RBS Aviation Capital business for US$7.3 billion
• International Power plc (IPR) in connection with the £6.4 billion recommended cash offer to be made by Electrabel S.A. (“EBL”), a wholly owned subsidiary of GDF SUEZ S.A., to acquire the ordinary share capital of IPR not already owned by GDF SUEZ
• Deutsche Bank on the disposal of its controlling interest in global generic pharmaceutical company, Actavis for approximately €4.25 billion

Chambers Global 2012 ranks Clifford Chance Tier 1 for Global Corporate/ M&A, and Tier 1 in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa-wide and the UK.