Our research:

• The research covered the period spanning from July 2016 to July 2017. This includes both ongoing work and matters that were closed during this timeframe.

• ALB drew results from firm submissions, Thomson Reuters M&A data, interviews, editorial resources and market suggestions to identify and rank the top firms for M&A in Asia.

• The rankings will be divided into tiers, with the first tier identifying the strongest M&A firms in each jurisdiction.

• The rankings cover the following jurisdictions: China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Our metrics:

• The volume, complexity and size of work undertaken

• Presence across the region and in individual jurisdictions

• Key personnel hires and growth of the practice group

• Key clients and new client wins

• Firm’s visibility and profile in the region

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in Asia-Pacific decreased in the first half of 2017 on the back of a deal flow slowdown in China.

Deal value fell by 7 percent compared to the same period in 2016, totaling $272.9 billion in value from 1,585 deals.

Real estate, industrials and financials had a combined market share of 48 percent, and were the most active industries so far this year. In particular, real estate took a 20 percent market share, while industrials and financials recorded 14.1 percent and 14 percent shares, respectively. China made up 49.1 percent of all Asian deals during the first six months of 2017.

Meanwhile, Singapore continues to remain the driving force of M&A deal-making in Southeast Asia, contributing over 70 percent of the region’s M&A value in the first half of 2017. M&A activities in Singapore this year were boosted by mega deals involving state-owned investment fund GIC.

The top deal with Asian involvement for the first half of 2017 was the sale of European warehouse firm Logicor to China Investment Corporation for $13.7 billion, while Lotte’s $8.9 billion restructuring was the largest M&A deal in the Asia-Pacific region in the second quarter.

CHINA

In the first half of 2017, China suffered a 23.8 percent year-on-year drop in deal value from $175.9 billion to $134 billion. The slump was mainly attributed to tighter capital controls imposed by Chinese regulators that cooled down outbound M&A transactions, with a significant impact on large transactions.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) recently asked banks to examine the credit and financial risks of companies that have been aggres­sively investing overseas and borrowing large sums of money, such as Dalian Wanda Group, Fosun International and HNA Group .

In addition, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) are now reportedly reviewing deal agreements that Chinese companies made regarding acquisition plans.

Although these measures have not been made public, the two regulators have requested companies to justify terms including target valuations, deal premiums and financing arrangements for some of their deals.

Figures from MOFCOM showed China’s outbound investment tumbled 42.9 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2017 amid a government drive to curb overseas corporate investments.

Non-financial outbound direct investment dropped to $49.1 billion in the first six months of the year, compared to a surge of 58.7 percent year-on-year in the same period in 2016. This plunge suggests that the so-called “irrational corporate investments” have been effectively controlled, said Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming at a media briefing.

CHINA DOMESTIC

TIER 1

• Fangda Partners

• Haiwen&Partners

• Han Kun Law Offices

• JunHe LLP

• King & Wood Mallesons

• Zhong Lun Law Firm

TIER 2

• AllBright Law Offices

• Global Law Office

• Grandall Law Firm

• Guantao Law Firm

• Jincheng Tongda & Neal

• Jingtian & Gongcheng

• Llinks Law Offices

• Tian Yuan Law Firm

TIER 3

• Grandway Law Offices

• Beijing Dentons Law Offices, LLP

• Dahui Lawyers

• East & Concord Partners

• Jia Yuan Law Offices

OTHER NOTABLE FIRMS

• AnJie Law Firm

• Broad & Bright

• Co-effort Law Firm

• Han Yi Law Offices

CHINA INTERNATIONAL

TIER 1

• Clifford Chance

• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

• Linklaters

• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

• Slaughter and May

TIER 2

• Ashurst

• Davis Polk & Wardwell

• Kirkland & Ellis

• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

• Sullivan & Cromwell

TIER 3

• Allen & Overy

• Baker McKenzie

• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

• DLA Piper

• Hogan Lovells

• Morrison & Foerster

• Norton Rose Fulbright

• Paul Hastings

• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

• Shearman & Sterling

• Weil, Gotshal & Manges

• White & Case

OTHER NOTABLE FIRMS

• Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

• Baker Botts

• Bird & Bird

• Clyde & Co

• Eversheds

• Herbert Smith Freehills

• Jones Day

• Latham & Watkins

• Morgan Lewis & Bockius

• O’Melveny & Myers

• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

• Reed Smith

• Simmons & Simmons

• Vinson & Elkins

HONG KONG

Outbound M&A from Hong Kong companies reached record levels in the first quarter of the year, as firms invested $15.5 billion into overseas markets, the highest total since 2001. These investments by Hong Kong firms involved 23 deals.

Topping the deals was a $9.8 billion bid made by a consortium led by Cheung Kong Property to take over Australia power provider Duet Group.

That was followed by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises’ $3.1 billion deal to acquire Australian utilities giant Alinta Energy. The two deals accounted for 83.2 percent of total outbound value in the first quarter.

HONG KONG

TIER 1

• Clifford Chance

• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

• Kirkland & Ellis

• Linklaters

• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

• Slaughter and May

• Weil Gotshal & Manges

TIER 2

• Allen & Overy

• Ashurst

• Baker McKenzie

• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

• Davis Polk & Wardwell

• Deacons

• DLA Piper

• Herbert Smith Freehills

• Hogan Lovells

• Latham & Watkins

• Mayer Brown JSM

• Norton Rose Fulbright

• Paul Hastings

• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

• Shearman & Sterling

• Sullivan & Cromwell

TIER 3

• Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

• Debevoise & Plimpton

• King & Wood Mallesons

• Mayer Brown JSM

• Morrison & Foerster

• Reed Smith Richards Butler

• Ropes & Gray

• Sidley Austin

• Troutman Sanders

• White & Case

• Woo Kwan Lee & Lo

OTHER NOTABLE FIRMS

• Addleshaw Goddard

• Baker Botts

• Berwin Leighton Paisner

• Bird & Bird

• Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

• Eversheds

• Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

• Howse Williams Bowers

• K&L Gates

• Locke Lord

• Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy

• Minter Ellison

• Morgan Lewis & Bockius

• O’Melveny & Myers

• Proskauer Rose

• Simmons & Simmons

• Stephenson Harwood

• Tanner De Witt

• Vinson & Elkins

• Vivien Chan & Co.

• Winston & Strawn

TAIWAN

Taiwan showed the second-highest first-quarter M&A deal volume since 2010, with 13 deals. Local companies continued to expand their M&A activities to offshore markets. For example, following the acquisition of Sharp, it was reported that Foxconn is now contemplating acquiring Toshiba.

In 2016, Taiwan recorded 52 deals, which was roughly on par with 2015’s deal volume of 55. Deal value amounted to $12.9 billion, the third highest on record, behind 2009 ($20 billion) and 2006 ($17 billion).

TAIWAN

TIER 1

• Baker McKenzie

• Jones Day

• Lee and Li

TIER 2

• Chen & Lin

• Eiger Law

• LCS & Partners

• PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan

• Tsar & Tsai Law Firm

TIER 3

• Formosa Transnational Attorneys at Law

• Formosan Brothers Attorneys at Law

• K&L Gates

• Lee, Tsai & Partners

• Liang & Partners

• Winkler Partners

OTHER NOTABLE FIRMS

• Huang & Partners

• Joseph Tan Jude Benny (JTJB)

• Lexcel Partners

• Lin & Partners Attorneys-At-Law

• Pamir Law Group

• Russin & Vecchi

• Yangming Partners