Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis were the top M&A legal advisers in the consumer sector in the first quarter of the year, analysis of deal data suggests.
According to GlobalData, the parent company of Just Food, Davis Polk & Wardwell led in terms of deal value by advising on transactions worth a total of $7.25bn.
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Kirkland & Ellis topped the charts by volume, advising on six deals in the quarter.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by volume in Q1 2024 and managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in Q1 2025 as well.
“Meanwhile, both the deals advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell during Q1 2025 were billion-dollar deals, and involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it occupy the top position by value in Q1 2025. Apart from leading by value, Davis Polk & Wardwell also occupied the eighth position in terms of deal volume during the quarter.”
Davis Polk & Wardwell was listed as an advisor in PepsiCo’s acquisition of US prebiotic soda brand Poppi for $1.95bn.
Paul Hastings ranked second in deal value, advising on transactions worth $5.3bn during the first quarter. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was placed third, handling deals valued at $2.16bn.
Cooley and Cravath Swaine & Moore shared the fourth spot, each having advised on a deal valued at $1.95bn.
In terms of deal volume, Latham & Watkins ranked second with four transactions, followed by Jones Day, Khaitan & Co, and Allen & Overy, each with three deals.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory company websites and other reliable sources available in the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness of the data, the company also seeks deal submissions from leading advisers.
