Kirkland & Ellis has ended Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's five-year run at the top of Europe's M&A advisor league table rankings amid a strong showing by U.S. firms in the region.

Kirkland advised on 162 deals worth a total value of $224.2 billion in 2019, edging ahead of Freshfields, which advised on 181 worth $221.6 billion, according to data from Mergermarket.

It was Kirkland's best year in the region having only ranked in the top 20 league table for European M&A in 2017 – its first showing. The result marks the first time since 2014 that Freshfields has been pushed off first place when ranked by value of deals. The Magic Circle firm had only failed to top the rankings once in the previous 10 years.

"2019 was a very busy year for us," said David Higgins, private equity in Kirkland's London office. "There was strong activity from private equity investors all across Europe as well as U.S. investors in Europe. There was also a lot of take-private activity given the attractiveness of public markets. We have got to maintain our focus and drive for 2020."

U.S. firms took five of the top six places, with Weil, Gotshal & Manges coming in third, followed by Sullivan & Cromwell, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Latham & Watkins. All five Magic Circle firms suffered a decline in their total deal value.

One partner at a U.S. firm in London said the change was a "continuation of a trend", that "clients are just more accepting of U.S. law firms now" and that the days of the Magic Circle monopoly were "gone".

DLA Piper, CMS and Allen & Overy led the tables when ranked by number of deals.

The value of overall European deal activity fell 22% on 2018 to reach $770.5 billion. This was 23% of the value of all deals across the world, meaning Europe accounted for its lowest share of global M&A since Mergermarket's records began.

This was partly due to low levels of U.K. deal activity, where total deal value fell 33% on 2018.

But take-private buyouts, acquisitions of public companies by private investors, hit $39 billion, their highest level since 2007.

On U.K. deals, Freshfields also lost its top spot, slipping to third behind Allen & Overy and Linklaters. Kirkland came fourth.

Globally, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was ranked first in the deal value league tables for the year, followed by Sullivan and Kirkland. They were followed by Davis Polk, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.