City partners have seen the lowest levels of M&A activity since early 2003 during the first half of this year, with few optimistic of a significant recovery any time soon.

Figures from Legal Week’s data provider, Mergermarket, show that in Europe there were 1,449 deals during the first half of 2009 worth $169.1bn (£102bn), compared with 3,175 deals worth $504.9bn (£315bn) during the same period in 2008 and 3,365 deals worth $846bn (£514bn) during the first half of 2007.