A 20-person British firm that advises on huge deals made more than $105 million this year

LONDON – Robey Warshaw, a Mayfair-based M&A advisory firm with around 20 employees, made $105 million (£85 million) in fees in 2016, according to figures from Dealogic.

The firm, set up by former Morgan Stanley and UBS bankers Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw, advised on four mega-deals worth a total of $67 billion (£54.1 million) in 2016 against a backdrop of a cooling M&A market.

The boutique is growing fee revenue rapidly. It earned £23.9 million in the year ended March 31, 2015, according to accounts filed last year. The partners didn't draw a salary, but accounts show the "a profit of £9,414,881 is provisionally attributable"to the highest-earning member of the firm.

In 2016, Robey Warshaw advised Softbank on its £24 billion ($29.7 billion) takeover of chipmaker ARM as well as on the National Grid's sale of a majority shareholding in its UK gas distribution business. The firm declined to comment on the Dealogic data.

Here's the Dealogic table for global M&A boutiques: Meanwhile, total global deal volume dropped to $3.7 trillion (£2.9 trillion) from last year's record high of $4.7 trillion (£3.8 trillion). The dip follows three year-on-year rises.

Here's how that looks in context:UK M&A plunged more than 50% in 2016, as political uncertainty and currency volatility hit dealmaking:The value of withdrawn M&A topped $839 billion (£677.9 billion) globally in 2016, the highest since 2008.

"Two of the top five $100bn+ withdrawn deals on record, were pulled in 2016, led by Pfizer’s $160bn bid for Allergan, withdrawn in April 2016 – the largest withdrawn deal on record," Dealogic said.

The fourth quarter of 2016 was more promising. The average deal size was $304 million (£245.6 million) – the highest quarterly average on record.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These are the best watches for under $400