U.K. firms have been usurped by their U.S. and European counterparts for advising on the highest-value deals during the third quarter of the year, with U.K. firms taking just five of the top 20 spots for European M&A.

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According to data from Mergermarket, the only U.K. firms included in the top dealmaking firms for Europe in Q3 were the Magic Circle firms, with Clifford Chance coming in 17th.

U.S. firm Kirkland & Ellis topped the list of firms for value, having worked on 155 deals worth $190 billion, putting it ahead of corporate rival Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which placed second.

Davis Polk & Wardwell placed third in the rankings, ahead of its U.S. rivals Weil Gotshal & Manges in fourth, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in sixth and Latham & Watkins in eighth.

Irish firms, meanwhile, have increased their presence in the European tables, with Arthur Cox leaping up the tables to take ninth place, marginally ahead of Linklaters.

Matheson, A&L Goodbody and McCann FitzGerald also all made it into the top 20, placing higher than Clifford Chance.

In the U.K. M&A adviser tables, Allen & Overy took first place for value ahead of Freshfields and Kirkland. However, only seven of the firms in the U.K. value table were Britain-based.

Overall, both European and U.K. deal volumes for the quarter dropped to their lowest point since 2013, while collective values stayed fairly constant.

Kirkland & Ellis corporate partner Roger Johnson said: "We have been working very hard for clients on large carve-outs such as Nestlé as well as take-privates such as Merlin and Inmarsat. The M&A and debt markets continue to be very active across Europe."

Commenting on the factors influencing the Irish M&A market in Q3, Arthur Cox corporate partner Cian McCourt said: "The challenges we see are probably common to most European firms. Brexit continues to act as a drag on confidence and deal execution, while global issues such as the U.S.–China trade war are also weighing on sentiment.

"On the flip side, we expect interest in Ireland to increase from North America and western Europe as a hedge against Brexit, given its position as an English-speaking member of the eurozone."

Robbie McLaren, a corporate partner at Latham & Watkins, added: "There have been lots of inbound acquisitions of U.K. businesses due to the current FX challenges of sterling. The majority of these businesses, however, are U.K.-based but operate internationally – this means they're hedged, to an extent, from the worst effects of a no-deal Brexit. Similarly, there has been a significant uptick in public-to-private transactions and we expect this to continue."