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Sard Verbinnen retained the top spots in Mergermarket’s rankings of PR advisors in the US and global markets for 2018, both in terms of the number of deals and total deal value.
Globally, SVC saw the number of deals it brokered rise by 12, with a related 17.2 percent jump in total value. Though its US numbers dipped slightly (with one fewer deal and a 6.6 percent drop in deal value), SVC recorded healthy gains in Europe (up 59.7 percent in deal value with 14 more deals), Asia-Pacific (up 99.5 percent in deal value) and Japan (up 618 percent in deal value).
Coming in second in terms of global deal value was Brunswick Group, followed by Finsbury Hering Schuppener, Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, FTI Consulting, Kekst CNC and Abernathy MacGregor Group. Following SVC, the global leaders in total deal count were Kekst CNC, FTI Consulting, Brunswick Group and Finsbury Hering Schuppener.
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In the US, Joele Frank, Brunswick, Finsbury and Kekst CNC joined SVC in the top five as regards total deal value. In terms of deal count, Kekst CNC took the No. 2 spot, followed by Joele Frank, Brunswick and FTI.
Globally, Maitland (up 127.4 percent) and Tulchan Communications (up 118.8 percent) recorded the biggest percentage gains in terms of deal value among the top 10 firms. Maitland also saw the biggest jump in deal count, brokering 66 more deals than it did in 2017.
Mergermarket’s rankings measured deals with a value of over $5 million or deals with an undisclosed value where the target’s turnover exceeds $10 million. If the deal is for a stake of less than 30%, the value must be greater than $100 million.
Mergermarket, an Acuris company, employs correspondents across 67 locations worldwide to assemble a database of information about the M&A market.



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