Below are the recently released Q-2 & First Half 2019 SPAC IPO Legal League Tables
The legal league tables had a few surprises in the second quarter. Notably, Winston & Strawn climbed to #1 based on total deal volume with $1.46 billion in legal assignments. To put that into context, Winston & Strawn sat out the first quarter having not participated in any SPACs, but came on strong in Q-2 to land the top spot. Overall, three of Winston’s legal assignments were as Issuer’s Counsel and one was as Underwriter’s Counsel, with a total average deal size of $365 million.
Additionally, Kirkland & Ellis, which took the #3 spot based on volume, also had four legal assignments, with all four as Underwriter’s Counsel. In fact, Kirkland appeared to be the firm of choice for underwriters in Q2 since their nearest competitor was Graubard Miller, which had two SPACs as Underwriter’s counsel.
Now focusing on Issuer’s counsel, once again, Ellenoff Grossman & Schole (EGS) took the top spot with four assignments and the #2 spot overall with $1.25 billion in total volume. EGS also led in total deal count with five SPACs, but their average deal size was $249 million to Winston’s $365 million and as a result, Winston edged them out to rank #1 on total volume.
Additionally, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (“Paul, Weiss”) came in with a massive average deal size of $425 million to rank #1 in that category, but Skadden wasn’t far behind at $400 million. Paul, Weiss was on the two recent Citigroup deals (Churchill II and South Mountain) as Issuer’s Counsel, while Skadden was Underwriter’s Counsel on the Diamond Eagle SPAC.
(continued…)
Ranked by Volume
(All data is sort-able using the arrow keys located in the header cells)
Q2 2019
| Rank | Law Firm | Volume ($mm) | Deal Count (Total) | Deal Count (Issuer's Counsel) | Deal Count (UW's Counsel) | Avg Size ($mm) | % Mkt Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winston & Strawn LLP | 1,460.0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 365.0 | 21.3% |
| 2 | EGS | 1,246.3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 249.3 | 18.1% |
| 3 | Kirkland & Ellis LLP | 952.5 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 238.1 | 13.9% |
| 4 | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP | 850.0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 425.0 | 12.4% |
| 5 | Graubard Miller | 687.5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 343.8 | 10.0% |
| 6 | Greenberg Traurig, LLP | 460.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 230.0 | 6.7% |
| 7 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP | 400.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 400.0 | 5.8% |
| 8 | Shearman & Sterling LLP | 316.3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 316.3 | 4.6% |
| 9 | Crowell & Moring, LLP | 172.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 172.5 | 2.5% |
| 10 | Loeb & Loeb LLP | 161.0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 80.5 | 2.3% |
| 11 | Schiff Hardin LLP | 115.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 115.0 | 1.7% |
| 12 | Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC | 46.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 46.0 | 0.7% |
1H 2019
| Rank | Law Firm | Volume ($mm) | Deal Count (Total) | Deal Count (Issuer's Counsel) | Deal Count (UW's Counsel) | Avg Size ($mm) | % Mkt Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EGS | 3,369.3 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 240.7 | 24.8% |
| 2 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP | 1,488.7 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 297.7 | 11.0% |
| 3 | Winston & Strawn LLP | 1,460.0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 365.0 | 10.8% |
| 4 | Graubard Miller | 1,301.5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 260.3 | 9.6% |
| 5 | Kirkland & Ellis LLP | 1,252.7 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 250.5 | 9.2% |
| 6 | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP | 850.0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 425.0 | 6.3% |
| 7 | Ropes & Gray LLP | 680.0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 340.0 | 5.0% |
| 8 | Greenberg Traurig, LLP | 632.5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 210.8 | 4.7% |
| 9 | Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP | 630.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 315.0 | 4.6% |
| 10 | Shearman & Sterling LLP | 566.3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 283.1 | 4.2% |
| 11 | Loeb & Loeb LLP | 276.0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 69.0 | 2.0% |
| 12 | Vinson & Elkins LLP | 233.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 233.0 | 1.7% |
| 13 | Latham & Watkins LLP | 230.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 230.0 | 1.7% |
| 14 | Crowell & Moring, LLP | 172.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 172.5 | 1.3% |
| 15 | Ledgewood PC | 150.7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 150.7 | 1.1% |
| 16 | Schiff Hardin LLP | 115.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 115.0 | 0.8% |
| 17 | Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC | 115.0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 57.5 | 0.8% |
| 18 | Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC | 46.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 46.0 | 0.3% |
Source: SPACInsider, Ranked by volume
However, first half (1-H) of 2019 league tables tell a very different story. EGS leads the list with a hefty 14 assignments, having previously been on nine SPACs in Q-1. The top five, (in order, based on volume), are: EGS, Skadden, Winston & Strawn, Graubard Miller, and Kirkland & Ellis, representing nearly two-thirds of the total SPAC market share to date (65.4%), out of a field of 18 law firms. Interestingly, the list nearly matches up exactly to the Full Year 2018 rankings, with the exception of Kirkland & Ellis, which supplanted Greenberg Traurig to take the #5 spot. Additionally, Kirkland & Ellis is Issuer’s Counsel on the two recently filed SPACs – Oaktree Acquisition Corp. and Conyers Park II. So both Winston and Kirkland are the law firms to watch in third quarter to see if they can catch EGS for the year-end totals.
Speaking of Q-3, we already have seven SPACs in the queue and it’s only July 1st. If we have a record breaking number of deals this quarter, all bets are off. More deals means more competition and anybody can take the lead.
All told, it was busy second quarter as well as first half for 2019, as expected. We’re looking forward to revisiting the legal league tables in September. See you next quarter.
You can find all of the published League Tables by clicking here.
AGBA (NASDAQ:AGBA) stock is up over +90% this morning following a +211% premarket spike on news it has signed a definitive agreement to combine with social streaming video platform Triller. AGBA, the company itself, was formed by the $555 million combination between a SPAC of the same name and TAG Companies, a financial services firm...
At the SPAC of Dawn Since closing its combination with DHC last month, AI customer engagement firm BEN (NASDAQ:BNAI) has rolled out new partnerships with call center and healthcare clients. And, while it faces a fair bit of competition in the chatbot realm, several high-profile institutions have demonstrated that creating one that provides useful services...
Blue Ocean (NASDAQ:BOCN) provided significantly more texture today in the presentation for its $275 million combination with Asian digital media group TNL Mediagene, which it expects to hit profitability in the second half of the year despite a slight shakeup in financing for the transaction. The first big update in the first investor deck is...
At the SPAC of Dawn A brand new market may have just opened up for space de-SPACs as NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced a shift in the agency’s $11 billion program for a mission to return samples from Mars. Rather than rely on the agency’s internal technologies that would be predicted to get a sample...
Overall deal flow between SPACs and biotech firms has slowed over the last year, but some pending FDA changes could breathe new life into particular business models within the space. In particular, the FDA has asked Congress as part of its 2025 Legislative Proposals to eliminate the interchangeability designation for biosimilar medications, claiming the existing...