It’s hard to prove that something hasn’t happened because of your efforts. But a lot of high-powered Wall Street types are quick to thank George Sard and his PR firm Sard Verbinnen for all the stories  that don’t get written about them.

Both Sard and Verbinnen (Paul is his first name) declined to comment, but Bloomberg Businessweek wrote a profile that names the following clients: SAC Capital Advisors, Dell and Air Products and Chemicals (both involved in multi-billion-dollar deals), and Goldman Sachs’ Fabrice Tourre. The quote in the headline comes from the story, which says “the man with the gray wavy hair” was virtually the only person in the courtroom during Tourre’s trial not to get any media attention.

For its efforts, the article notes that the firm is the number one M&A firm by deal count, according to Mergermarket, “lending its expertise to 45 transactions worth $71 billion in the first half of 2013.”

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Well now. AIG subsidiary Chartis has launched a product this week called “ReputationGuard” that will offer services from Burson-Marsteller and Porter Novelli to account holders in case of a crisis situation. Policy prices vary, but a small company could shell out $10,000 in annual premiums.

Yes, we’re talking about the AIG that got all that bailout cash and became the object of intense scorn when the economy collapsed in ’08. AIG’s own crisis situation was so bad, this subsidiary changed its name from AIU Holdings to Chartis so it wouldn’t be associated with its parent company. And, according to a Harris Interactive study from earlier this year, its reputation is still pretty much in the toilet.

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Brunswick is working with AT&T on the T-Mobile USA deal, but Abernathy MacGregor tops the mergermarket ranking for deal value.

Abernathy MacGregor Group leads the pack for value of international deals in Q1 2011 according to the latest mergermarket League Tables. The firm worked on 16 deals worth $73.3 billion, putting it ahead of Brunswick Group, which came in at number two with 41 deals valued at $67.9 billion, and Sard Verbinnen, which handled 21 deals valued at about $64.4 billion. According to mergermarket, this is the first time since the rankings began in 2001 that Abernathy has topped the list.

And, The New York Times Dealbook blog notes that Brunswick is advising on the biggest deal of the quarter, AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile USA. (Brunswick is working with AT&T while Kekst & Co is working with T-Mobile.)

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