Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher and Kekst and Company were the top M&A PR advisors in 2011 by value of deals and volume, respectively, after leading the annual tally by mergermarket in 2010.
Kekst advised 102 transactions during 2011, 15 more than Joele Frank and Sard Verbinnen & Co., which worked 87 deals during the year. FTI Consulting (80), Abernathy MacGregor Group (76) and Brunswick (71) rounded out the top five by number of transactions.
Ranked by deal value, Joele Frank’s transactions totaled $170.4B in 2011, ahead of Brunswick Group ($166.3B), Sard Verbinnen ($154.8M), Abernathy MacGregor ($144B), and Kekst ($103.6B).
Joele Frank worked the largest deal in the U.S. and globally in 2011, Kinder Morgan’s $37.4B move on El Paso Corp., counseling the latter. Brunswick and Abernathy worked the No. 2 deal, Express Scripps’ $33.4B acquisition of Medco Health Solutions.
Globally, Brunswick ($238.9B) and FTI Consulting (235) were again the most prolific by volume and number.
Mergermarket said U.S. deals rose 14.9 percent over 2010 by value, although the strongest numbers came during the first quarter and trended downward. The fourth quarter was off 25.5% over 2010.