Law firms that have acted on the most large-cap real estate deals in Europe this year are revealed in the December issue of PropertyEU.

In the inaugural real estate legal adviser transaction ranking, London-headquartered Clifford Chance takes top spot, having been adviser on nine out of the 25 largest deals of 2018.

CMS (5 deals), Allen & Overy (4 deals), Loyens & Loeff (3 deals), and Linklaters (3 deals) are next in the power list, followed by Herbert Smith Freehills, Freshfields, Houthoff, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, and Taylor Wessing, each of whom managed to work on 2 transactions.

The law firm tracker has been compiled using PropertyEU's proprietary deal database supplemented with primary research. It includes contacting law firms and buyers and sellers involved in the transactions.

Clifford Chance (for BBVA) and Linklaters (for Cerberus Capital Management) worked on the biggest deal of the year - the €5 bn sale of 68,000 assets and a servicing platform in Spain.

Meanwhile, Clifford Chance's Carlos Portocarrero de las Heras based in Madrid is named as Star Lawyer of 2018, having led on the BBVA sale and also on Europe's fifth largest transaction - the acquisition by Cerberus of a 35,000 REO portfolio for €1.5 bn from Banco Santander.

'We are delighted to have been named the most active firm in large cap transactions and we welcome PropertyEU's initiative,' said Jonathan Solomon, global head of real estate at Clifford Chance.

'It is clear that the real estate market has benefited from strong demand among investors and this looks set to continue into 2019 notwithstanding potential headwinds,' he said.

'Looking at the pipeline of transactions Clifford Chance is involved with, it seems that 2019 is likely to be a year of significant activity in the logistics, residential and healthcare space as well as in offices.'

For the full report and table of those involved in the 25 largest real estate transactions of 2018 click on the document below.