Linklaters named European M&A Legal Adviser of the Year by Mergermarket

Linklaters has won European M&A Legal Adviser of the Year at the annual Mergermarket European M&A Awards. The award is given based on analysis by Mergermarket of the overall value of transactions and overall volume of deals advised on by the firm over the past twelve months. 

The Mergermarket awards recognise the achievements of advanced advisory services on transformative deals and complex transactions. Notable deals on which Linklaters have worked on this year include Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in its £46bn recommended offer for Shire plc – one of the largest pharma companies in Europe, the largest ever outbound M&A deal by a Japanese company and the largest global public M&A deal this year. 

Further across Europe, Linklaters also advised Chariot Top Group, a company represented by Griffin Real Estate, on a real estate portfolio acquisition comprising 28 shopping centres across Poland and the subsequent resale of 12 properties from this portfolio to EPP. This transaction was one of the largest ever real estate portfolio transactions in Poland and the CEE region amounting to €1.7bn. It involved our Warsaw, London, Luxembourg and Amsterdam offices.

Other deals of note include Ablynx on its public takeover by Sanofi worth €3.9bn, its largest transactions in the past five years and the largest Belgian biotech deal ever. Linklaters also acted for PAI Partners on its announced potential public takeover of Ontex Group valued at €2.4bn which would be the largest acquisition by a private equity firm in Belgium for the past 10 years. In the UK, another notable deal is the J Sainsbury plc £15bn merger with ASDA Group Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart Inc.