Matheson Ormsby Prentice’s (MOP) and Goodbody Corporate Finance’s involvement in the Eircom takeover have ensured their places at the top of the corporate finance league tables for the first nine months of 2006, according to the latest statistics from MergerMarket.
MOP heads the legal league table for having advised on the greatest value (€4.9 billion) and number of deals (26), from January 1st to September 30th 2006. MOP worked on some of the largest mergers & acquisitions (M&A) deals over the past nine months, including the €3.7 billion acquisition of Eircom by Babcock & Brown, a deal in which it advised the acquirer.
Second by deal value is William Fry, who advised on €4.5 billion worth of deals so far this year, followed by A&L Goodbody with €4.4 billion of deals. Both firms were also involved in the eircom deal. When looked at by deal volume, William Fry and A&L Goodbody swap places for second and third position, while Arthur Cox makes the top ten in joint third.
Although the firm advised on 15 deals during the period under review, the value of these deals was only €287 million. From a corporate finance advisory perspective, Goodbody Corporate Finance’s involvement in the Eircom deal has pushed it to the top of the league table, jumping into pole position from seventh at the end of 2005.
The firm is followed by Morgan Stanley, who just worked on one Irish deal so far this year, again Eircom. The busiest top five firm is Davy Corporate Finance, who worked on 8 deals during the period under review, valued at €2.2 billion. |