Mergermarket’s latest M&A rankings make for grim reading. While Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters managed to top the European rankings for the first half of 2009 by value and volume respectively – with Linklaters also leading both rankings in the UK – overall activity levels continued to fall during the second quarter.
UK M&A activity fell by around 70% for both value and volume between H1 2008 and H1 2009, while European deal volumes fell by 54.4% by volume and 66.5% by value over the same period.
