The American Lawyer’s “Corporate Scorecard” Ranks Firms, Anoints 2010 Dealmakers of the Year

March 31, 2011 - PRLog -- NEW YORK – The American Lawyer, ALM’s flagship monthly, today published its annual Corporate Scorecard, identifying 2010’s leading law firms in nine transactional practice areas. The April issue also named 18 Dealmakers of the Year, whose innovative lawyering helped the corporate sector navigate the economy’s turnaround.

Initial public offerings led a broad recovery that stretched to every category but bankruptcy. Davis Polk topped the U.S. league table for advising underwriters by working on 14 IPOs, with total proceeds of $10.8 billion. Jenner & Block and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt tied for the U.S. issuer’s counsel lead at $9.1 billion each. In representations of IPOs by foreign companies, Simpson Thacher was number one among underwriter’s counsel with IPOs generating $703 million in proceeds; Skadden led issuer’s counsel at $586 million, when ranked by total value, and Conyers Dill handled the most foreign IPOs, 17.

“A key reason for IPO growth was the record number of China-based company IPOs debuting on U.S. markets,” noted American Lawyer reporter Drew Combs.

Highlights in other areas ranked in the Corporate Scorecard include:

Mergers and Acquisitions: Boosted a sustained pickup in the second half of the year, Sullivan & Cromwell racked up $180.5 billion in M&A deals, taking the lead as counsel to principals. In number of deals, Skadden came in first with an even 100.

Private Equity: With private equity-backed M&A more than doubling last year, Simpson Thacher swept the league tables in number and value of deals, advising principals in 23 transactions worth $29.3 billion.

Corporate Debt: As high-yield debt offerings soared last year, propelled by a perfect storm of low interest rates and maturing debt, Simpson Thacher was there to represent issuer’s counsel a leading 45 times. Cahill topped manager’s counsel with 190 issues. Investment-grade offerings were also up, though more modestly; Davis Polk’s 84 issues earned the number-one spot among issuer’s counsel, while Sidley Austin took the honors as manager’s counsel with 115.

Municipal Bonds: In a record year for public finance, Fulbright & Jaworski represented underwriter’s counsel on 220 issues, more than any other firm, while Gilmore & Bell led bond counsel with 632 issues.

Securitizations: Asset-backed deals rebounded significantly from a 2009 bottom while mortgage-backed deals quadrupled. The leaders in asset-backed securities issues  were Kirkland and Bingham with 19 deals for issuer’s counsel and Bingham with 58 for manager’s counsel. In the mortgage-backed market, Cadwalader took top honors, counseling issuers on 16 issues; Sonnenschein led manager’s counsel with 20.

Project Finance: After a dip in 2009, project financings turned in their best year ever in 2010. Luthra & Luthra was number-one in value of deals handled at $23.3 billion. Leading in the number of financings was Allen & Overy with 61.

REITs: The real estate investment trust sector jolted back to life in 2010. Among REIT equity issues, Venable led issuer’s counsel with 21 and Sidley Austin manager’s counsel with 20. On the debt side, Latham & Watkins was first with 11 issues on behalf of issuer’s counsel; Sidley Austin led manager’s counsel with 12.

Bankruptcy: In a shrinking bankruptcy pool -- the number of filings dropped by half in 2010 – Kirkland & Ellis led on the debtor side with three filings in the top 20 by prepetition assets, while Morrison & Foerster was number-one for creditors, being tapped by three committees.

The Corporate Scorecard analyses are based on data supplied by Thomson Financial on equity and debt offerings, mergermarket on M&A, Dealogic on project finance, and BankruptcyData.com on bankruptcy.

In “Dealmakers of the Year,” The American Lawyer spotlights individuals, many whom are recognized for facilitating the repairs, relaunches and in some cases downsizings of corporate players retooling for recovery.

The 2010 Dealmakers of the Year are: Jenner & Block’s Joseph Gromacki for General Motors Corporation’s IPO; Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Show-Mao Chen for Agricultural Bank of China Limited's IPO; Debevoise & Plimpton's John Vasily for American International Assurance's IPO; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's Nicolas Grabar for Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras)'s follow-on offering; Sullivan & Cromwell’s Frederic Rich and Latham & Watkins’ William Voge for Papua New Guinea’s LNG project; Hogan Lovells' William Curtin III for the sale of Volvo; Kirkland & Ellis’s Stephen Fraidin and William Sorabella for the Burger King buyout; Nixon Peabody's William Andrews and Lori Green for the CapX2020 Transmission Expansion Initiative joint ventures, Ballard Spahr's Paul Casey for a New York City Housing Authority's bond issuance, White & Case’s Thomas Lauria for the Texas Rangers acquisition; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's Jay Goffman for the MGM bankruptcy; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz's David Shapiro for NBH Holdings Corp.'s bank investments; Sullivan & Cromwell's Keith Pagnani for the Novartis/Alcon merger; Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s Faiza Saeed for the Terra Industries acquisition; and Mayer Brown's David Narefsky for the Denver transit privatization.

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