CS’Associados and Cuatrecasas, top M&A advisors in Portugal in 2025 (Mergermarket)
MergerMarket’s 2025 league tables show a more fragmented distribution of deal value in Portugal’s M&A market, marking a shift from the concentration seen in 2024. While Cuatrecasas and PLMJ dominated both volume and value the previous year, 2025 was characterised by a change in value leadership, driven by a smaller number of large transactions. CS’Associados topped the value ranking with €6.415 billion across four deals, followed by Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier (€6.4 billion from two deals) and Slaughter & May (€5.4 billion across two transactions). Both cases illustrate how foreign law firms entered the rankings on the strength of a limited number of high-profile transactions in Portugal – such as the selling of Novobanco (click to read) –, significantly reshaping the league tables.
DLA Piper ranked fourth (€5.05 billion across 14 deals), followed by Weil, Gotshal & Manges (€4.8 billion, one deal) and Uría Menéndez (€2.747 billion across 19 deals). Deloitte Legal placed seventh (€1.631 billion, eight deals), ahead of Vieira de Almeida (€1.138 billion, 19 deals), Linklaters (€1.042 billion, six deals) and Morais Leitão, which closed the top ten with €855 million across seven transactions.
Outside the top ten, Hengeler Mueller (€600 million, one deal) and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison (€600 million, one deal) shared 11th place. Cuatrecasas ranked 13th, with €522 million across 33 deals, followed by Pérez-Llorca (€475 million, 11 transactions), Schönherr Rechtsanwälte (€472 million, one deal) and Clifford Chance (€430 million, two transactions).
Garrigues ranked 17th, with €288 million across 19 deals, followed by SRS Advogados (€274 million, 23 transactions), KGSA (€250 million, two deals) and Latham & Watkins, which placed 20th with €222 million from a single transaction.
Deal count
Looking at deal count, Cuatrecasas retained its position as the most active firm by number of transactions, with 33 deals, followed by SRS Advogados (23) and Uría Menéndez (19). Vieira de Almeida, Garrigues and PLMJ also recorded 19 deals each. DLA Piper ranked seventh with 14 transactions, followed by Pérez-Llorca (11), CMS LTF (9), DWF Group (9), Deloitte Legal (8) and Telles (8). Morais Leitão ranked 13th with seven deals.
The ranking concludes with Linklaters and EY Law (six deals each), Eversheds Sutherland (five), CS’Associados, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Abreu Advogados (four deals each), and Madrona Advogados in 20th place, with three transactions.
