New York – January 8, 2024 – Cooley's global mergers & acquisitions practice has been recognized based on its M&A activity on year-end M&A league tables from Bloomberg, Mergermarket and LSEG Data & Analytics (formerly known as Refinitiv). The recognitions are based on Cooley's role in advising on more than 255 transactions globally announced in 2023, comprising more than $119 billion in deal volume for the year.
Led by co-chairs Jamie Leigh and Barbara Borden, Cooley's M&A practice continues to dominate in public and private transactions in the US and globally – despite the unsettled M&A market.
Cooley's top rankings include:
- Bloomberg, which ranked the firm #2 for global- and US-announced deals by deal count, as well as #2 for global- and US-announced deals – principals by deal count. Bloomberg also ranked Cooley as #1 for global mid-market deals and private equity deals, each by deal count, #2 for global- and US mid-market deals by deal value, and #1 for global private equity deals by deal value.
- Mergermarket, which ranked the firm #4 on its US league table by deal count and #5 on its global league table by deal count, as well as #3 for US private equity buyouts, #4 for global private equity buyouts by deal count, #3 for US private equity exits, and #4 for global private equity exits by deal value.
- LSEG, which ranked the firm #2 on its US league table for completed deals by deal count and #3 on its global league table for completed deals by deal count.
To support these rankings, Cooley handled deals across a diverse range of industries while also maintaining its top position in technology and life sciences. In 2023, the firm worked on multiple market-leading transactions, including representations of:
- RayzeBio in its $4.1 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb
- Carmot Therapeutics in its approximately $3 billion merger with Roche
- Insurance Auto Auctions in its $7.3 billion merger with Ritchie Bros.
- CinCor Pharma in its approximately $1.8 billion sale to AstraZeneca
- Gracell Biotechnologies in its approximately $1.2 billion sale to AstraZeneca
- VectivBio in its approximately $1 billion acquisition by Ironwood
- Amryt Pharma in its $1.48 billion sale to Chiesi Farmaceutici
- Zillow in its approximately $500 million acquisition of Follow Up Boss
- Absolute Software in its $870 million sale to Crosspoint Capital
- ThoughtSpot in its $200 million acquisition of Mode Analytics
- Sprout Social in its $140 million acquisition of Tagger Media and its previous acquisition of Repustate
- Bavarian Nordic in its $380 million acquisition of Emergent BioSolutions' travel vaccines portfolio
- Uber in the $400 million sale of its 50% stake in a Careem super app to e&
- Definitive Healthcare in its acquisition of Populi
- TOYO Solar in its combination with Blue World Acquisition Corporation
Since 2019, Cooley's world-class transactional team has worked on 1,540+ M&A deals for an aggregate value of more than $745 billion – guiding top public and private companies, financial advisers, and private equity sponsors in some of the market's largest and most complex transactions. With the addition of a five-partner private equity and M&A team in Cooley's Denver office in February 2023, the M&A group includes 180+ practitioners in major business and technology centers worldwide, representing all categories of participants in transactions.