One of the most noteworthy deals is our involvement in the biggest deal worldwide in Q1. We assisted AerCap Holdings N.V. with its acquisition of GE Capital Aviation Services. The team that advised Aercap on this USD 31 billion deal was led by Paul van der Bijl and further consisted of Jaap Jan Trommel, Esther Schreiber, Sanne Meester, Sjuul Jentjens and Chris Warner.
Our strength on the European markets is evidenced by the European league table by value, in which we moved up from the 19th to the 15th position. NautaDutilh is the only Benelux firm ranked in the top 20. In the Benelux league tables, we hold the 4th position by deal count and the 6th position by deal value. We are also expanding our footprint on other European markets. In the Ireland and Italy league tables by value, we hold the 8th and 13th position, respectively.
Joost den Engelsman, co-head of our Private Equity practice, comments: "In the last few months of 2020, we saw a sharp increase in the number of deals, both new deals and deals that had been put on hold earlier in the year due to market turbulence. This made for a very good first quarter and looking at the pipeline for the coming months, I expect this trend to continue."