Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) have dominated Hong Kong & China targeted M&A over the last three years, Mergermarket data reveals.

The magic circle firm has taken the top spot for deal value over the period, with work totalling £156.5bn.

Over the three year span from 18 August 2012 to 19 August 2015 the firm acted on a total of 76 deals with Chinese or Hong Kong targets, making it the 8th most active firm by deal volume.

KWM has topped the rankings for volume as the firm was mandated on a total of 159 deals with a collective worth of £62.6bn.

"The appetite for financial institutions in Hong Kong has increased, largely driven by Chinese appetite but not exclusively. A lot of people are keen to get into that space in Hong Kong," says KWM's co-chief executive, Hayden Flinn.

Flinn credits the firm's "depth and breadth" within China as one of the main factors in its M&A success over the last three years.

"Of the international law firms we have the largest presence in China and, since the merger, that strength of HK and China capability is winning us deals," he adds.

The results cover some of the most active years for deals in the region over the last decade, as the value of Asia-Pacific deals hit a high of $65.9bn (£43bn) in 2014 and deal count rose to a record 354.

Following KWM in the rankings, Chinese firms Grandall Law firm, Fangda Partners and Zhong Lun Law Firm took second, third and fourth place by deal count, respectively.

Similarly JiaYuan Law Offices, Haiwen & Partners and Jingtian & Gongcheng have come third, fourth and fifth respectively by deal volume, following Freshfields and Linklaters.

Baker & McKenzie features in both rankings with the eighth largest deal value total and seventh largest deal volume.

Speaking about the trends the firm has seen over the period David Fleming, head of Baker & McKenzie's Asia-Pacific M&A practice, says: "We are seeing increased China outbound activity and stable inbound investment with a focus on pharma and life sciences, technology and financial services, including insurance. We also continue to see inbound M&A deals across a range of industrial sectors."

Outbound work from the region has been a "significant driver" of M&A work in the last three years, agrees Freshfield's Asia-Pacific managing partner, Robert Ashworth.

"It has only been in the last few years that outbound has outweighed inbound volumes and values of transactions," he says.

In addition, Ashworth identifies company restructurings as a growing source of activity. Freshfields was involved in CITIC Group's 2014 portfolio restructuring. "I think that will continue and those companies that are like the CITIC Group have gone through these structural changes will also be far more likely to do deals in the future," he adds.

Looking ahead, Ashworth sees the trends of outbound investment and restructuring as likely to drive the market in the longer term, with both at the "relatively early stages of an upward curve".

He argues an increasingly consumer-driven economy will boost work in consumer and leisure sectors in the region, while energy and resources have been negatively impacted by global political and economic instability.

He adds: "On the re-organisation trend there is so much more to do and we are seeing new models coming into the market – so called mixed ownership models for Chinese state owned companies and they are bringing in foreign capital to a large extent as well as domestic capital and it is becoming less state dependent and more independent in terms of their structure and their decision making."

In the shorter term the global stock market downturn seen last week [24-28 August] has raised concerns about the impact on capital markets work for law firms in Asia

However, Ashurst' s Hong Kong managing partner Lina Lee told Legal Week that the firm is getting enquiries from clients about buying back their shares.

"If companies are confident about their own prospects, those with cash see it as a good way to enhance shareholder value," she adds.

"A lot of companies who have the calendar year end as the financial year end are still in the black out period so they can't do anything until their results are announced. But once the blackout is over, I think we will see an increase in activity."

Likewise Fleming believes that despite the short-term volatility which will "generally impact confidence in M&A deals which may cause counterparties to pause", longer term firms may stand to gain from "the prospect of opportune investments".