Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has topped the US M&A rankings for 2004, according to new research showing the American deal market firmly in the ascendancy.

The New York firm took the coveted pole position for announced US M&A in Thomson Financial’s latest rankings after advising on 138 deals worth $254.4bn (£136bn), pipping Sullivan & Cromwell and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz into second and third places respectively.