NEW YORK—Financial communications powerhouses FTI Consulting and Brunswick continued to handle more mergers and acquisitions around the world than any other public relations firms, but New York-based Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher ranked number one in terms of the value of deals it worked in 2013, according to rankings produced by mergermarket.

FTI took the number one spot in terms of volume, working on 202 deals worth $124 billion, swapping places with the 2012 market leader Brunswick, which in 2013 worked on 193 deals worth $210 billion. RLM Finsbury, Sard Verbinnen & Co and Joele Frank rounded out the top five.

But in terms of value, it was work with Verizon Communications on its acquisition of a 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless from Vodafone—the world’s biggest transaction last year—that helped Joele Frank grab the number one spot, ahead of Abernathy MacGregor (which advised Vodafone on the same deal), Brunswick, RLM Finsbury and Sard Verbinnen.

In the US, Joele Frank led the rankings in terms of both value and volume of deals worked, with 112 transactions worth in excess of $309 billion. Sard Verbinnen, Kekst, Brunswick, and ICR rounded out the top five in terms of volume, while Abernathy MacGregor, Brunswick, Sard Verbinnen and Tavistock were in the top five in terms of value.

In Europe, meanwhile, FTI Consulting was number one in terms of volume, with Brunswick, RLM Finsbury, Maitland and College Hill all making the top five. In terms of value, RLM Finsbury was the leader, ahead of Tavistock, Maitland, Abernathy, and Joele Frank.

In the UK, FTI was tops in terms of volume, ahead of Maitland, Brunswick, RLM Finsbury and College Hill. Tavistock led in terms of value, beating out Maitland, RLM Finsbury, Abernathy MacGregor and Joele Frank. Hering Schuppener led the German league table in terms of both value and volume of deals worked; Image Sept was number one in France in terms of volume, with Kekst leading in terms of value; in Italy, Barabino & Partners was the leader in terms of volume, while RLM Finsbury led in terms of value.

In Asia—excluding Japan—Brunswick overtook FTI Consulting to lead in terms of volume of deals, with Wonderful Sky, RLM Finsbury and Citigate all ranking in the top five. Brunswick also held on to the number one spot in terms of value of deals worked, ahead of FTI, Sard Verbinnen, Strategic Public Relations Group, and Kekst.

Specialist firms continue to dominate the rankings around the world. In terms of global deals, only Edelman (41 deals worth $26 billion) and Hill+Knowlton Strategies (39 deals worth $34 billion) ranked among the top 20. In terms of value, Ketchum also crept into the top 20, with its 11 deals worth $20 billion.