Cooley Earns Top Industry-Leading Recognitions in US, Global M&A and Private Equity Rankings
New York – January 13, 2026Cooley’s global mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices were recognized based on their M&A and PE activity on year-end league tables from Bloomberg, Mergermarket and LSEG Data & Analytics.
The recognitions were based on Cooley’s role in advising on 320+ transactions globally announced in 2025, comprising more than $115 billion in deal volume for the year.
Cooley’s mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices continue to dominate in public and private transactions in the US and globally – despite the unpredictable market.
Cooley received top-tier recognition by deal count across several key industry sectors, including:
- Life sciences
- #1 for US and global life sciences M&A (Bloomberg)
- #1 for US and global life sciences M&A (Mergermarket)
- #1 for US and global life sciences M&A (LSEG)
- #1 for public life sciences M&A (Deal Point Data)
- Technology
- #2 for US and global tech M&A (Bloomberg)
- #2 for US and global tech M&A (Mergermarket)
- #2 for US and global tech M&A (LSEG)
Cooley was also ranked at the top of US and global league tables by deal count, including:
- Bloomberg
- #3 for US M&A
- #5 for global M&A
- #3 for US mid-market M&A
- #5 for global mid-market M&A
- #4 for US and global private equity deals
- Mergermarket
- #4 for US M&A
- #5 for global M&A
- #1 for US mid-market M&A
- #3 for global mid-market M&A
- LSEG
- #4 for US M&A league table (completed deals)
- #5 for global M&A league table (completed deals)
- #3 for US M&A league table (completed, target-side deals)
In 2025, Cooley handled deals across a range of industries while also maintaining its top position in technology and life sciences. The firm’s market-leading transactions included representations of:
- Confluent, the data streaming pioneer, in its $11 billion acquisition by IBM
- Cidara Therapeutics in its $9.2 billion acquisition by Merck
- The Boston Celtics and the Grousbeck family in their $6.1 billion sale of the Celtics
- io Products in its $6.5 billion acquisition by OpenAI
- PrizePicks, a leading fantasy sports operator, in its $4.15 billion sale to Allwyn
- Play AI, a startup that generates human-sounding voices, on its acquisition by Meta
- Xanadu Quantum Technologies in its $3 billion merger with Crane Harbor
- A global syndicate of investors in the $2.25 billion acquisition of HistoSonics
- Dynavax Technologies in the company’s $2.2 billion acquisition by Sanofi
- Capstan Therapeutics in its $2 billion+ acquisition by AbbVie
- SciTec, a national security leader, in its $855 million sale to Firefly Aerospace
- Poppi in its $1.95 billion sale to Pepsi
- Alani Nu in its $1.8 billion sale to Celsius Holdings
- Mirum Pharmaceuticals in its $820 million purchase of Bluejay Therapeutics
- Clubessential Holdings in its merger with Xplor Technologies
- Touchland in its $880 million sale to Church & Dwight
- Qualified, a top provider of agentic AI marketing solutions, in its sale to Salesforce
- Sweetgreen in the $185 million sale of its Spyce business to Wonder
- Lantheus in its purchase of Evergreen Theragnostics for up to $1 billion
- SKIMS in its acquisition of SKKN by Kim from Kim Kardashian and Coty
- MongoDB, a top database company, in its purchase of Voyage AI
Since 2021, Cooley’s world-class transactional team has worked on 1,600+ M&A deals for an aggregate value of more than $750 billion – guiding top public and private companies, financial advisors and private equity sponsors in some of the market’s largest and most complex transactions. The mergers and acquisitions and private equity groups include 180+ practitioners in major business and technology centers worldwide, representing all categories of participants in transactions
About Cooley LLP
Clients partner with Cooley on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation.
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