Finalists: George Cary – Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton; Sean Doyle – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Mark I Greene – Cravath, Swaine & Moore (highly commended); Mitchell L Rabinowitz – Crowell & Moring.

Sullivan & Cromwell partner Carsten Berrar took home the dealmaker of the year prize for his work on a number of high-profile transatlantic M&A deals.

Frankfurt-based Berrar played a central role in Praxair's merger with Linde, as well as advising on various aspects of Bayer's purchase of Monsanto. Berrar co-led the Praxair and Linde tie-up, ensuring the deal (which had previously been pursued and then abandoned) was seen by all stakeholders as a merger of equals, creating the largest global gas field company.

Berrar's work for Bayer on its ambitious takeover of US agricultural company Monsanto involved advising on a €4bn mandatory convertible bond, the largest such deal on record for a European issuer and the first step of roughly $19bn of equity-raising measures. The deal, valuing Monsanto at about $66bn, was the largest all-cash takeover on record and the largest acquisition of a US company by a foreign buyer. Berrar also advised on the German corporate law matters of the deal.

"Carsten Berrar's work on the Praxair-Linde merger and Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto wasn't just high profile, it was complex and necessary to help the deals go forward," a judge remarked.

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