The global law firm announced today its No. 1 ranking by deal volume in mergermarket’s 2010 league table for law firms acting on M&A transactions in Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia and the CIS.

“We were successful in our vision to remain the No. 1 M&A law firm in CEE/CIS by a clear margin,” commented Michal Dlouhy, co-head of the M&A practice in CEE based in Prague “This success is built on developing long-term relationships with the owners and top managers of key clients, and handling their most important deals in the region.  The large number of deals credited to us in the region shows that our firm was successful in developing these relationships,” added Michal.

Mergermarket, the world’s leading independent M&A intelligence tool, also shows that White & Case has maintained its top position in the league table for the past five years, having acted on the highest number of M&A deals in CEE since 2005.
Eric Michailov, co-head of the M&A practice in CEE based in Moscow, was also clearly pleased about the team’s victory: “These facts represent the great effort our lawyers have made, contributing to our consistent market recognition as the leader in M&A transactions across CEE and the CIS.” 

Highlights of transactions which illustrate the volume of work performed by White & Case in 2010 include:

•  The €574 million sale of Ceske Radiokomunikace, a.s, the second largest private-equity sale in CEE, and the biggest corporate deal in the Czech Republic;
•  OAO Rostelecom’s acquisition of a major stake in Svyazinvest Telecommunication Investment Joint Stock Company for approximately €689 million.

Since the beginning of 2010, White & Case has advised on 28 deals across CEE and the CIS valued at a total of US$ 6.2 billion.