Mergermarket: Uría and Cuatrecasas top Spain’s 9M M&A tables

Uría Menéndez retains the top spot in Spain’s M&A market by deal value in the first nine months of 2026, while Cuatrecasas remains the country’s most active firm by number of transactions, according to the latest Mergermarket rankings.

Uría advises on 81 deals worth US$37.73bn, accounting for 44.9% of the total value recorded in Spain and up 48.7% on the same period in 2025. The biggest move near the top comes from Deloitte Legal, which climbs from 22nd to second after advising on 47 transactions worth US$24.12bn, a 560.7% year-on-year increase. Paul Weiss also rises sharply, from 21st to third, with six transactions worth US$16.53bn. Cuatrecasas ranks fourth, with US$16.31bn across 151 deals, just US$19m ahead of Garrigues, fifth with US$16.29bn from 98 transactions. Their advised deal value increases by 19.9% and 3.3%, respectively.

Latham & Watkins moves from 12th to sixth with US$15.92bn, up 82.9%, ahead of Freshfields in seventh with US$15.39bn. PwC Legal falls from third to eighth, with US$14.77bn, down 14.7%, while Simpson Thacher jumps from 87th to ninth after advising on four transactions worth US$13.38bn. Linklaters completes the top ten with US$12.85bn, 24% below the figure recorded a year earlier.

Outside the top ten, Davis Polk and Wachtell Lipton share 11th place with US$12.74bn each, followed by Pérez-Llorca, Kirkland & Ellis, A&O Shearman, EY Law, Vinge, Clifford Chance, Legance and Cintioli & Associati.

Cuatrecasas remains the busiest adviser

By deal count, Cuatrecasas retains first place with 151 transactions, representing 19.7% of all deals recorded by Mergermarket in Spain. Garrigues ranks second with 98, followed by Uría Menéndez with 81 and Pérez-Llorca with 78. PwC Legal takes fifth place with 58 transactions, ahead of Deloitte Legal with 47, DWF with 43, KPMG Abogados with 36, Baker McKenzie with 26 and Linklaters with 25.

The remainder of the top 20 comprises DLA Piper with 23 deals; EY Law and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo with 22 each; CMS with 19; Pinsent Masons and Osborne Clarke with 17; A&O Shearman and Addleshaw Goddard with 16; Ashurst Perkins Coie with 15; and Hogan Lovells Cadwalader with 14.

Overall, Mergermarket records 765 Spanish transactions worth US$84bn between January and September 2026. Aggregate value remains broadly stable compared with US$84.92bn in the same period of 2025, down just over 1%. Deal activity, however, falls more sharply, with the number of transactions dropping from 993 to 765, a decline of around 23%.