Greg Bopp (pictured), a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani, who serves as co-head of its business and regulatory practices, believes his Houston firm’s appearance on a recently published roster of the top 25 advisory firms for worldwide completed deals in 2012 may be unprecedented.
Bracewell, which ranked as 25th on the list Thomson Reuters published Jan. 7, may not have ever before appeared in that top group for worldwide performance, Bopp says. Thomson Reuters ranked the firms on the list according to the aggregate dollar value of the worldwide deals for which the firms provided advice in 2012. Bracewell moved up to the 25th ranking in 2012 from its 109th ranking on the same list in 2011. Bopp says Bracewell’s appearance reflects the firm being “exceedingly busy,” due to the rise in deals in the energy sector last year. “It was a terrific year for an energy practice firm,” he says.
Only one other Texas-based firm, Vinson & Elkins, made it on the list of top 25, placing in the 20th spot. V&E had ranked as 32nd on the same Thomson Reuters list for 2011.
Keith Fullenweider (pictured), a V&E partner, and group leader of the firm’s M&A and private equity practices, as well as member of the firm’s management committee, says sometimes one very large deal –“with a lot of zeros” – explains a firm’s ranking movements on such lists. But Fullenweider says in V&E’s case in 2012, the rise in the rankings reflects not “one mega deal” but a lot of “nice-size transactions.” Says Fullenweider: “That’s our sweet spot.”
--Miriam Rozen
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