July was a busy month for billion-dollar M&A deals, as the European market began to show signs of recovery from last year's Brexit-induced shock, although the ensuing transactional trauma did not prove to be as devastating as initially feared.

The U.K.'s Worldpay Group plc kicked off this month's deal frenzy with its $10 billion bid for Cincinnati-based credit card processor Vantiv Inc., a union that London-based sibling publication Legal Week noted yielded key roles for Allen & Overy and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Payment systems transactions proved to be popular in July, as British online payment company Paysafe Group plc announced last week that it had received a $3.8 billion takeover bid by a consortium led by private equity firms The Blackstone Group LP and CVC Capital Partners LP.