NEW YORK—Brunswick Group provided communications support for more mergers and acquisitions—more than 200—than any other public relations firm in 2015, according to the latest data from industry authority mergermarket.

Brunswick (209 deals) beat out FTI Consulting (188), Sard Verbinnen (137), Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher (133) and Publicis Groupe’s Kekst and Company (124) in mergermarket’s league table of M&A advisors, and also led the ranking in terms of value of deals worked ($973 billion) ahead of Joele Frank ($558 billion) and Finsbury ($406 billion).

But perhaps the biggest surprise in the league table was full-service firm Edelman, which finished sixth in the value of deals worked ($299 billion) and seventh in volume (84), breaking into a top 10 usually dominated by specialist consultancies.

With an unusual number of big deals in 2015, mergermarket predicted a continuation of that trend in 2016. “Industry-defining transactions were a major feature of 2015 M&A,” according to Dealreporter assistant editor Alex Tarrant. “Competitors need to respond in 2016.”

Mergermarket also provided a breakdown of deal advisors by market:

  • US: Joele Frank led in terms of deal volume (132) ahead of Sard Verbinnen (121) and Kekst (116), while Brunswick led in terms of value, followed by Joele Frank and Kekst.
  • Europe: FTI led by number of transactions (161), beating Brunswick (129) and Citigate (76), while Brunswick was number one in value of deals, ahead of Finsbury and Edelman.
  • UK: FTI again led in volume terms (119), with Brunswick (93) and Maitland (57) in second and third; Brunswick topped the value ranking, ahead of Finsbury and FTI.
  • Germany: Local giant Hering Schuppener led in terms of volume and value with FTI and Brunswick in second in third.
  • France: Publicis Consultants was number one in volume, ahead of Image Sept and Citigate; Brunswick led in value, beating out Joele Frank and Powerscourt.
  • Italy: Local specialist Barabino & Partners led the volume ranking, with Image Building and Community Group rounding out the top three; FTI topped the value table, ahead of Finsbury and Community Group.
  • Asia-Pacific: Brunswick (32) was top in terms of volume, ahead of FTI (25) and Citadel Magnus (19); Sard Verbinnen, FTI and Brunswick were the top three in value terms.
  • Japan: Edelman was number one in Japan’s volume ranking, beating Brunswick and CNC (also part of Publicis); Brunswick was number one in value, ahead of CNC and Sard Verbinnen.