The Deal Announces Results of FY 2015 M&A League Tables; Record Year for M&A Dollar Value

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Deal, a business unit of TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: TST), announced the results of its rankings of the top firms involved in mergers and acquisitions for the full year 2015 for deal assignments of $100 million or more that involved a U.S. company. The Deal reported that 2015 set records in terms of dollar value—$1.9 trillion in announced deals—with the majority of transactions coming from pharmaceutical and semiconductor sectors.

"We saw a massive increase in M&A in 2015 driven by activity in semiconductors and pharmaceuticals," said David Marcus, senior writer at The Deal. "Chip companies still need to scale and cut costs, so activity should continue in 2016. The aging populations in the West, the political inability or unwillingness to control healthcare spending, the big drug companies' need for new products and a steady stream of new technologies mean that the wave of M&A in pharmaceuticals will likely continue for many years, though perhaps not at the same pace as last year."

League Table highlights:

• Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP tied for the top law firm, with 107 deals each; Latham & Watkins LLP ranked second, with 88 deals; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was third, with 68; and Jones Day ranked fourth, with 64 deals.
• Top law firms representing investment advisers included White & Case LLP, ranked first, with 63 deals; Sullivan & Cromwell LLP ranked second, with 43 deals; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP ranked third, with 26 deals. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP ranked fourth, with 24 deals.
• Top Delaware law firms included Richards, Layton & Finger PA, ranked first, with 75 deals; Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunell LLP, with 74 deals, ranked second; and Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP ranked third, with 27 deals.
• Top investment advisers included Goldman, Sachs & Co., ranked first, with 136 deals; JPMorgan Chase & Co., with 120 deals, ranked second; Morgan Stanley ranked third, with 112 deals; Bank of America Merrill Lynch, ranked fourth, had 96 deals; and Barclays Capital was fifth, with 90 deals.
• Top proxy solicitors/information agents included Innisfree M&A Inc., ranked first, with 71 deals; Georgeson Inc., with 58 deals, was second; MacKenzie Partners Inc., with 55 deals, ranked third; and D.F. King & Co. was fourth, with 46 deals.
• The top public relations firms were Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, ranked first, with 128 deals; Sard Verbinnen & Co., with 75 deals, was second; Kekst and Co., ranked third, with 67 deals; and Abernathy MacGregor Group Inc., with 26 deals, was fourth.

The full report is available online.

About The Deal's M&A League Tables
Rankings include the names of lead M&A and/or corporate partners at law firms that represented principals and investment advisers. Only deals involving a change of control at a target company with a market value of $100 million or more are included, and only when a key party involved is a U.S. company. Unless the target is a recognized stand-alone operating business, rankings will not include asset sales, unit sales, sales of subsidiaries, spin-offs or joint ventures. Deals with undisclosed transactions values are not eligible. The Deal's M&A League Tables, which comes out each quarter, are cumulative across the year.

About The Deal
The Deal is a media and technology company providing over 100,000 users with actionable ideas from its two services - The Deal & BoardEx. Law firms, investment banks, private equity firms and hedge funds use The Deal service to find their next deal and BoardEx to connect the dots between their organizations and clients. The Deal is a business unit of TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: TST) and has offices in New York, London, Washington, D.C., Petaluma, CA and Chennai, India. For more information, visit www.thedeal.com.

Contact: Ashley Klepach, 212.321.5048, Ashley.Klepach at thestreet.com

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