Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance tops MergerMarket 2015 league tables ranking top for Private Equity in volume and value in Europe

International law firm Clifford Chance has maintained its 1st position in Europe for value and volume of deals and is ranked top for UK by value in MergerMarket's latest rankings on the sector.

Clifford Chance was recently also awarded European Private Equity Legal Adviser of the Year 2015 at the MergerMarket European M&A Awards, which were held in London on 9 December. The award recognises the quality of Clifford Chance's private equity team across Europe, together with its strength across corporate, equity capital markets, antitrust, leveraged finance, high yield and regulatory.

Clifford Chance has been advising the world's leading PE houses for over 25 years. The practice's strength is well recognised in the market. In Chambers Global 2015, Clifford Chance was ranked in tier one for private equity globally, and  it also retained top place as number one for private equity in the UK. The group was also voted "Law Firm of the Year in Europe (Transactions)" for the 14th consecutive year by the readers of Private Equity International magazine in 2015.

The latest accolade from MergerMarket follows a successful year for the Private Equity team at Clifford Chance. Highlights include advising on:

• CD&R on its sale by accelerated IPO of British Car Auctions
• Cinven on the parallel acquisitions, merger and financings of Labco in France and Synlab in Germany‎
• The Carlyle Group on its joint acquisition with Huo's Group of Shell's 75% stake in Tongyi Lubricants in China, a joint venture between Shell and Huo's Group
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Hermes Infrastructure on their combined acquisition of a 40% stake in Associated British Ports from GS Infrastructure Partners, Infracapital, Borealis Infrastructure and Cheyne Walk Investment Pte Ltd
• Permira on the €2.6bn disposal of the Iglo Group to Nomad Holdings Limited
• CVC Capital Partners on its partnership with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, leading CVC to become a co-shareholder in the RAC through the purchase of Carlyle's stake in the RAC
• Actis on a joint venture with Mainstream Renewable Power, a global wind and solar developer, to establish a US$1.9 billion pan-African renewable energy generation platform, Lekela Power