Sydney, 07 January 2011: A flurry of M&A activity in the last quarter of 2010 has helped catapult Clayton Utz to a first place ranking in the Full Year 2010 Thomson Reuters Legal Advisor M&A League Tables. [1]
According to Thomson Reuters, in 2010 Clayton Utz ranked first with the highest aggregate deal value for announced deals with any Australian or New Zealand involvement. During the period, Clayton Utz advised on 73 announced transactions amounting to over US$48.193 billion. Clayton Utz also placed first by value in announced deals with any Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) involvement.
Commenting on the results, Clayton Utz M&A practice head John Elliott said: "The start of 2010 saw subdued activity levels but a notable turnaround in the last quarter of the year kept deal-doers busy. With advisory roles on many of the highest-profile transactions, our M&A team worked around-the-clock in the lead-up to Christmas to get transactions to market. As corporate confidence levels rise, we expect to see a steady flow of deals continue into 2011."
Clayton Utz M&A practice chair Rod Halstead said: "After getting their houses in order during the downturn, corporates and institutional buyers are now prepared to make acquisition decisions. Getting targets and suitors to agree on price is the challenge to executing deals as well as overcoming the regulatory hurdles, which we're seeing with a number of deals at the moment."
Contributing to its market-leading performance, the Clayton Utz team had major roles on the proposed merger of the Singapore Stock Exchange and Australian Stock Exchange (advising SGX); AMP Limited's acquisition of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited's Australian and New Zealand businesses (advising AMP Limited); the proposed sale of Valemus to Lend Lease (advising Valemus); Wah Nam International's bids for Brockman Resources and FerrAus (advising Wah Nam), and; Origin Energy's successful bid to acquire Country Energy and Integral Energy as well as gentrader rights to the Eraring power station.
[1] The Thomson Reuters League Tables rank eligible mergers, acquisitions, repurchases, spin-offs, self-tenders, minority stake purchases and debt restructurings. The results referred to in this statement are attributable to Thomson's Full Year 2010 Mergers & Acquisitions Review.