NEW YORK—FTI Consulting worked on more global transactions than any other public relations firm in the first quarter of 2013, according to the latest ranking of M&A advisors from mergermarket. FTI, which worked on 47 deals worth $16 billion, took over the top spot from Brunswick Group, which was an advisor on 36 deals.

Sard Verbinnen was in third place (23 deals), ahead of Kekst+Company (21 deals), and Maitland (17 deals). Integrated Corporate Relations was the biggest climber on the list, up from 27th to seventh with 14 deals.

Brunswick held on to its leadership position in terms of the value of deals worked ($86 billion), ahead of Sard Verbinnen, Kekst, Abernathy MacGregor, and Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher. Brunswick was helped by its role advising the bidder on three of the major deals of the quarter: Berkshire Hathaway (on its bid for HJ Heinz), Liberty Global (Virgin Media), and Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell (Dell).

Sard Verbinnen, meanwhile, took over the number one spot in terms of deal volume in the US (23), ahead of FTI (21), Brunswick, FTI and Abernathy. Brunswick was number one in terms of value of deals worked ($76 billon), beating out Sard Verbinnen, Kekst, Abernathy and Joele Frank.

FTI was also number one in terms of volume of deals in Europe (37 deals), with Brunswick in second place (20 deals) and Maitland in third (17). In terms of value, Brunswick was the leader ($31 billion), with Powerscourt, number 12 last year, in second place ($21 billion), and Tavistock Communications in third.

FTI led in the UK in terms of volume, ahead of Brunswick, which was number one in terms of value. In Germany, Hering Schuppener took the number one spot in terms of both volume and value. In France, Brunswick topped the volume ranking while Kekst and its MSL/Publicis partners led in terms of value. And in Italy, Barabino & Partners was top in terms of volume, while Community Group was number one by value.

In Asia (excluding Japan), FTI was number one in terms of volume and value of deals worked, leading Brunswick in the volume table and Hong Kong-based Strategic Public Relations Group on the value table.

While the year has already seen four mega-deals adding up to $ 86 billion, it saw first quarter deal value ($ 418 billion, 2,621 deals) down 7.6 percent on the corresponding period in 2012 ($ 452.2 billion, 3,262 deals)—the slowest opening quarter in ten years.