Brunswick once again topped the global M&A by value league table, with a total of 106 deals worth US$321.7bn (£199.7bn).
Brunswick was boosted by its work on Pfizer's US$63.3bn takeover of Wyeth, the top deal of the year globally. The firm also tops the European, North American and Asia-Pacific value tables.
FD also had another strong year, remaining the most active adviser globally. The agency topped the global, European and Asia-Pacific league tables by deal volume.
Finsbury topped the UK list by value with a total of US$146.9bn and 48 deals. While FD was number one in the UK by volume with 67 deals with a value of US$36.2bn.
It also confirmed its place as the clear leader in the mid-market globally taking top place in the global, European and North American league tables, as well as the volume table in Asia-Pacific.
Mergermarket found that there was a 27 per cent drop in M&A activity which led to a tough year for smaller advisory firms. Fee income and revenues were sharply lower in 2009
PR agencies with ‘blue chip' clients fared better in difficult market conditions.
A pick-up in bid activity towards the back-end of 2009, including the T-Mobile/Orange UK joint venture and Kraft Food's bid for Cadbury, helped to spark a modest revival in fee-based activity.
There are signs that 2010 will be a better year for M&A than last year and IPO activity is also expected to pick-up in 2010.