The firm’s North West team was ranked joint second following the completion of 37 deals. These include the sale of Sofology to DFS, the sale of the Optionis group to Arkaruius group, the IPO of Velocity Composites, the sale of Utiligroup to Energy Services Group, the IPO of Tatton Asset Management and the sale of Mini-Cam Enterprises to Halma Plc.
DWF improved its full year rankings in the South East where the team increased its position from 16th to 7th with 18 deals completed.
In the North East the team rose to 7th in the rankings from 9th last year and the East of England team came 10th in the most active legal advisors table.
The report produced by Experian ranks the most active legal and financial advisers in the UK by deal volume and value.
Frank Shephard, partner and Head of Corporate at DWF, commented on the results:
"Our corporate teams achieved another strong year in 2017 which has been demonstrated by our rise in the rankings. This is set to continue as our corporate teams in the UK and around the world grow further. We have seen the benefit of focusing on sector specialisms and spending time to gain a deep understanding of our clients' businesses. This allied with our ability to provide both regional and international expertise has led to the continued success of the team."
DWF's circa 100-strong corporate team continues to expand in the UK and internationally in Germany, France, Italy and Dubai. This is reflected in DWF's corporate hires in 2017 including the appointment of partner and Head of Corporate in Dubai Matthew Donovan and a number of additions to the London corporate team including partners Andrew Carpenter from Addleshaw Goddard and Mel Sims from DLA Piper.