Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis topped two league tables devised by GlobalData after analysing the M&A that took place in the consumer sector in the first half of the year.
According to GlobalData, Just Food’s parent, Davis Polk & Wardwell headed the charts when measuring the value of transactions in the first six months of 2025, while Kirkland & Ellisadvised on the most deals.
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Davis Polk & Wardwell worked on deals in the consumer sector worth a cumulative $7.25bn. Kirkland & Elliswas appointed an adviser on ten transactions.
Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, said: “Interestingly, Davis Polk & Wardwell did not even feature among the top 10 by value in H1 2024 but managed to lead by this metric in H1 2025. Both the deals advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell during H1 2025 were billion-dollar deals and involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it occupy the top position by value.
“Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis was the top adviser by volume in H1 2024 and managed to retain its leadership position by this metric in H1 2025 as well.”
Davis Polk & Wardwell was an advisor to PepsiCo on its $1.95bn acquisition of US prebiotic-soda business Poppi, a deal announced in March.
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When measuring the value of deals, Paul Hastings ranked second, advising on $5.3bn worth of transactions.
Cravath Swaine & Moore, which also worked on the Poppi deal, advised on three deals worth a combined $4.94bn, then came Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer with $4.12bn and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $3.48bn.
In terms of deal volume, Latham & Watkins ranked second after advising on nine transactions during the first half of 2025. A&O Shearman was third with seven, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Jones Day and Mayer Brown all worked on six each.
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources. A team of analysts gathers in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
