Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, Kirkland & Ellis, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett continue to lead in global M&A deal value through the first three quarters of 2019, while Sullivan & Cromwell displaced Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in the top five, coming in at No. 4 in the latest rankings from Refinitiv and Mergermarket.

Wachtell, as it has through the first half of the year, continues to rely on a smaller number of larger deals to propel its overall standing. The firm added around $76 billion in M&A work in the third quarter, according to Refinitiv, bringing its yearly total to $522 billion. The Q3 number represents only 14% of the total work the firm has done this year, showing a drop off that was felt across the M&A landscape.

Kirkland, which handled about $84 billion in deals over Q3, closed the gap with first-ranked Wachtell, but the overall difference ($522 billion for Wachtell, $462 billion for Kirkland) is still significant, according to Refinifiv.

Kirkland does continue to have a wide lead in total number of deals announced, with a nine-month total of 502, outpacing second place Goodwin Procter (366) and third place DLA Piper (352) by a large margin.

The remaining top five firms by announced deal value were Davis Polk with $398 billion over 123 deals, Sullivan & Cromwell with $387 billion over 117 deals and Simpson Thacher with $347 billion over 137 deals.

In terms of market share of global deals (there is often overlap as multiple firms can claim shares of the same deal by Refinitiv's data), Wachtell remained No. 1 with 18.4%, up 6.4% from the previous quarter. Kirkland added in more in percentage of share, upping its take by 8.9% quarter over quarter for a total of 16.3%. Davis Polk stood at 14%, Sullivan & Cromwell at 13.6% and Simpson Thacher was fifth with 12.2% market share.

Latham & Watkins (-5.7%), Allen & Overy (-5.5%) and Linklaters (-4.9%) lost the most global share by percentage, according to Refinitiv. The only member of the top five by deal worth to lose market share quarter over quarter was Davis Polk, although it wasn't by much (-0.2%).

None of the top five deals occurred in Q3, according to Mergermarket, helping add to a rather listless quarter. The largest deal of the third quarter by value was the London Stock Exchange acquisition of financial data provider Refinitiv for $27 billion.

Overall M&A performance was down year over year from 2018, with the first nine months showing a worldwide 10% drop in deal value in Refinitiv's findings, although the Americas sector managed to climb up slightly with 1% growth in value.

The number of worldwide deals is also down 10% compared to 2018, although the number of deals in the Americas is up 17%.

The Africa/Middle East region saw the most growth year over year, with 148% increase in deal value compared to 2018, bringing the nine-month deal value total to around $148 billion.

According to Refinitiv, Europe (down 31%) and Asia/Pacific (down 21%) continue to lag compared to this point last year.

Total European deal value, at $573.5 billion, is down 29.4% from this point last year, according to Mergermarket.

Negatively impacted by the Trump administration's trade war with Beijing and persistent political instability in Hong Kong, Q1-Q3 activity in Asia is down 26.5% over last year to $417.2 billion. China and Hong Kong account for only 7.8% of global M&A activity so far this year, down from 11.4% last year and way off pace for 2015, when they were responsible for 15.6% of the total global value of deals.

Other points of interest from Refinitiv's findings:

  • Worldwide M&A activity totaled $2.8 trillion during Q1-Q3, a decrease of 10% compared to 2018 but still the fourth largest opening period for mergers and acquisitions since records began in 1980.
  • Cross-border M&A activity totaled $841.7 billion during the first nine months of 2019, a 32% decrease from 2018 and the slowest opening nine-month period for cross-border M&A since 2013, according to Refinitiv.
  • PE-backed buyouts accounted for 13% of the first nine months of 2019 M&A activity. The first nine months of 2019 marks the strongest first nine months for private equity deal making since prior to the financial crisis.
  • The value of worldwide M&A deals greater than $10 billion totaled $1 trillion during the first nine months of 2019, an increase of 21% compared to a year ago and the strongest period on record.

In other M&A news:

Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX (Blackstone)/Great Wolf Resorts

Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX is teaming with Centerbridge Partners to take a 65% stake in Great Wolf Resorts for $2.9 billion. Great Wolf owns and operates family-oriented entertainment resorts, with 18 resorts around the U.S. According to a press release, every Great Wolf Resort contains "a full-service hotel, expansive indoor waterpark, recreational activities including game rooms, ropes courses, and family bowling alleys." Sounds fun. Centerbridge, Blackstone's partner in the transaction, currently has about $27 billion in capital under management, compared to Blackstone's $154 billion.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson for Blackstone/Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for Great Wolf Resorts

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB/ Dova Pharmaceuticals

Stockholm-based biotech firm and rare disease specialist Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) has agreed to purchase North Carolina-based Dova Pharmaceuticals for $915 million. The share purchase price of $27.50 represents a 36% premium over the most recent closing price for Dova. The deal includes another potential $1.50 per share for Dova shares once the FDA approves Dova's drug Doptelet, which is used in the treatment of the rare blood platelet disorder thrombocytopenia.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Mannheimer Swartling Advokatbyrå AB for Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB/Cooley for Dova Pharmaceuticals

Brookfield Business Partners/BrandSafway (Clayton Dubilier & Rose)

Brookfield Business Partners has agreed to purchase a 45% stake in Clayton Dubilier & Rose's $1.3 billion investment in BrandSafway. After the deal concludes, both Brookfield and CDR will each own 45% of BrandSafway, with the latter maintaining a minority stakeholder. With locations in 30 countries and over 38,000 employees, BrandSafway provides industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets with solutions for "forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions," according to a release. 

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for Brookfield Business Partners/Debevoise & Plimpton for Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and BrandSafway

Blackstone/Colony Industrial (Colony Capital)

Blackstone, in its continued land grab for warehousing and industrial real estate, has agreed to purchase Colony Industrial from parent Colony Capital for $5.9 billion. According to Globest, the assets included "last-mile light industrial portfolio consists of 60 million square feet of infill, logistics assets across 465 light industrial buildings in 26 US markets, with significant concentration in Dallas, Atlanta, Florida, northern New Jersey, and California." Blackstone has made industrial real estate a priority, having acquired more than 930 million square feet since 2010. In July, Blackstone purchased $18.7 billion worth of industrial real estate assets from Singapore-based GLP. 

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for Blackstone/Willkie Farr & Gallagher for Colony Industrial (Colony Capital)

NextEra Energy Partners/Meade Pipeline Co

Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy has entered into an agreement to purchase Meade Pipeline Co. for $1.37, including $90 million in additional capital contributions through 2022. Meade owns close to 40% of the Central Penn Pipeline, which is a 185-mile intrastate natural gas pipeline that is an "integral part of a pipeline system regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that provides the Marcellus natural gas producing region access to large demand centers in the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the U.S." The purchase is heavily debt financed, but NextEra said in a press release that it "has firm commitments in place" to finance the deal.

Locke Lord for NextEra Energy Partners/Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for Meade Pipeline Co.

Sempra Energy/China Yangtze Power International

San Diego-based Sempra Energy has agreed to sell equity interests in its Peruvian businesses to China Yangtze Power International (CYP) for $3.59 billion in cash. This will include Sempra's 83.6% stake in Luz del Sur S.A.A. (Luz del Sur). CYP is a subsidiary of China Yangtze Power Co., which is the largest publicly listed power company in China with a market capitalization of approximately $58 billion.