Does the market need more rankings for deal work? London-based Mergerlinks thinks so, and it's aiming its product at both the buyers and sellers of mergers and acquisitions services. 

"Our ambition is to create a marketplace for M&A advisory services, where clients can find information that is useful to them in a structured platform," Bartosz Jaskula, founder and CEO of Mergerlinks, said. "We want people to promote their credentials from both the demand and supply side."

Mergerlinks, which Jaskula founded five years ago, has a larger presence in Europe. But Jaskula said that more than half of the data it collect is from North America, and as he notes, "it's a much bigger market." 

The company offers a granular look at individual deal lawyers and their relationships (see the rankings above for 2019, for example), and it distinguishes its reports from those issued by others, such as Refinitiv and Mergermarket, which rank law firms and other advisers and focus on deal amount, location, number of deals and some industry and sector data. 

"There are providers in the market, but they don't provide individual data, which is the key" Jaskula said. "What you really want to know is 'who were the specific partners involved.'"

For example, he said: "If you are looking for the most experienced IP lawyer in textile transactions, we can tell you which firms and which individuals are involved. We push past the reputation and into the data."

MergerLinks results and methodology don't always mesh with firms' own in-house records, specifically when it comes to the lawyers credited on a deal.

For instance, Sean Skiffington, a partner at Shearman & Sterling, is listed as the No. 2 attorney in Mergerlinks' rankings for total deal value in North America. According to Shearman's press releases, while Skiffington participated in several large deals, he was never the lead attorney.

Jaskula said Mergerlinks reached out to Shearman on multiple occasions to verify Skiffington's involvement in the deals, but never received a reply.

In addition, the top lawyer listed in MergerLinks' breakdown for female M&A leaders, Andrea Wahlquist of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, was listed with a 2019 deal value over $187 billion, higher than any of the attorneys listed on the overall Top North American M&A listing. But she was not ranked in that listing.

Jaskula said that's because the female M&A ranking took into consideration tax attorneys, anti-trust lawyers and others who were not specifically listed as corporate attorneys, while the overall North American rankings only include transactional lawyers who lead on deals.

"Their input is far more limited, which allows them to work on multiple deals," Jaskula said of the broader practice mix.

In other deal news:

Sprint/T-Mobile The $26.5 billion, all-stock transaction in which T-Mobile, the U.S.'s third-largest wireless carrier, will buy Sprint, the fourth-largest, is a go. A federal judge in Manhattan rejected a challenge by the attorneys general for 13 states, which argued that the deal would hurt consumers due to reduced competition and price hikes. With that federal decision, the carriers jump what was the last regulatory hurdle for a merger over two years in the making. The expectation is that the deal will close by April 1. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton led the regulatory portion of the deal for T-Mobile while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz took the lead on the transaction. All in, there were 19 Big Law firms involved on some level in taking the transaction from conception to completion. The new combined company will have an enterprise value of over $146 billion.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (transaction) Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (regulatory) for T-Mobile/Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (regulatory) and Morrison & Foerster (transaction) for Sprint

CenterState Bank/South State Bank

Winter Haven, Florida-based CenterState Bank and Columbia, South Carolina-based South State Bank have agreed to an all stock merger of equals that will create a new entity with an enterprise value of about $6 billion. The new company will use the South State Bank name and trade under the South State ticker symbol, SSB, on the Nasdaq. The entity will have roughly $34 billion in assets and $26 billion in deposits under its umbrella. The company will be one of the largest banking entities in the Southeastern U.S.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for South State Bank/Davis Polk & Wardwell for CenterState Bank

Bristow Group/ERA Group

Bristow Group, a leader in the offshore oil and gas transportation industry, and ERA Group, one of the largest helicopter transport operators in the world, have agreed to an all-stock merger of equals that will produce a new entity with annual revenues projected around $1.5 billion. The new company, called Bristow, will have significant operations in North American, Australia, Brazil, Norway and the U.K. 

Kirkland & Ellis, Baker Botts and Bracewell for Bristow Group/Milbank for ERA Group

BorgWarner/Delphi Technologies

Auburn Hills, Michigan-based BorgWarner, a clean energy and combustion solutions provider, and London-based Delphi Technologies, a propulsion technologies company, have agreed to a merger in which BorgWarner will acquire Delphi for $3.3 billion. Current BorgWarner shareholders will own 84% of the company while Delphi investors will retain the remaining 16%. The two companies estimated they combined for roughly $15.5 billion in sales in 2019.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for BorgWarner/Kirkland & Ellis for Delphi Technologies

PowerTeam Services/CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, an integrated infrastructure provider, has agreed to sell two of its divisions, Miller Pipeline and Minnesota Ltd., to Atlanta-based PowerTeam Services for $850 million in cash, the companies' said. Miller Pipeline, located in Indianapolis, and Minnesota Ltd., headquartered in Big Lake, Minnesota, collectively employ just under 5,000 people. Houston-based CenterPoint, which has a utility footprint in 40 states, employs about 14,000 people and holds about $35 billion in assets. 

Debevoise & Plimpton for PowerTeam Services/Latham & Watkins for CenterPoint Energy

Advent International/Forescout Technologies

Global private equity firm Advent International has agreed to purchase device visibility and control company Forescout Technologies in an all-cash transaction worth roughly $1.9 billion. Advent will pay $33 per for all outstanding Forescout shares, a 30% premium over Forescout's $25.45 share price on the last day of trading prior to the release of its 13-D filing. Advent has been a player in the PE world for some time. Founded in 1984, the firm has done over 350 PE transactions in 41 countries, the firm said, and has over $56 billion in assets under management. 

Ropes & Gray for Advent International/Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for Forescout Technologies

Fidelity National Financial/FGL Holdings

FGL Holdings, a holding company based in the Cayman Islands, has entered into an agreement to be acquired by insurance and closing settlements company Fidelity National Financial for roughly $2.7 billion. Fidelity will pay $12.50 per FGL share on the transaction. Fidelity will pay 60% of the deal value in cash and the additional 40% will be in company stock. The purchase price represents a 28% premium over FGL's volume-weighted 60-day stock price. FGL will operate as a subsidiary of Fidelity and remain in its current headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kirkland & Ellis for Special Committee of Directors for FGL Holdings/Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for FGL Holdings

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