US advisory firm Houlihan Lokey replaced Lazard at the top of the global completed restructuring league table in 2011 following a weak year for the sector, according to new data from Thomson Reuters.
The US firm was the strongest performer in a poor environment in which total volumes fell by more than two fifths. It moved up from second place in the previous year's league table.
Lazard, meanwhile, slipped to second place with Rothschild third. Moelis and Blackstone Group made up the rest of the top five globally.
In the US, Lazard ranked top of the league table with $27.2bn in deal activity, ahead of Houlihan Lokey and Blackstone Group. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Rothschild ranked top with $33bn of deal activity, ahead of Houlihan Lokey and Goldman Sachs, which moved from 15th in 2010 to third in the rankings in 2011.
Goldman's rise up the rankings in Emea helped it break into the top ten globally. It stood in sixth place, a big leap from 13th the previous year.
Other new entrants to the global top ten included Alvarez & Marsal, the US firm handing the liquidation of Lehman Brothers, which moved from 25th to seventh, and PwC, which ranked eighth, up from 36th.
