Corporate law firm AZB & Partners has topped the Venture Intelligence India League Tables for 2010 as the Most Active Legal Advisor for both Private Equity and M&A deals. AZB advised a total of 90 transactions during the period.
Ernst & Young – which advised a total of 34 qualifying transactions – topped the League Tables as the Most Active Transaction Advisor (both PE and M&A) for the year.
The Venture Intelligence League Tables, which exclusively track transactions involving India-based companies, are based on volume of PE and M&A transactions advised by Transaction and Legal Advisory firms.
Among PE transactions, AZB advised 43 deals worth over USD2.2 billion during 2010 including SBI-Macquarie’s USD304 million investment in Viom Networks; the USD217 million investment by Standard Chartered PE, KKR and New Silk Route in Coffee Day Resorts; and the USD175 million investment by Temasek into National Stock Exchange. Other legal advisors who advised a significant number of PE transactions during 2010 include ALMT Legal (19), Indus Law (19), DSK Legal (15), Tatva Legal (15), Amarchand & Mangaldas (13), Trilegal (12), J Sagar Associates (11) and Rajani Associates (11).
Ernst & Young advised eight PE deals worth USD318 million during the period, including Bain Capital and TPG Growth’s USD86 million investment in Lilliput Kidswear; Warburg Pincus’ USD85 million investment in Metropolis Healthcare and Actis’ USD78 million investment in Tata Realty and Infrastructure’s road project SPV. Other transaction advisors who advised a significant number of PE deals during 2010 include Avendus (6), Intellecap (6), MAPE (6), Veda Corporate Advisors (6) followed by Edelweiss Capital, Grameen Capital and o3 Capital with 5 deals each.
Among M&A transactions, AZB advised 47 deals worth almost USD22.5 billion during the period, including the Bharti’s acquisition of Zain’s African operations, Vedanta Resources’ acquisition of Cairn India and Jindal Steel’s acquisition of Oman based Shahdeed Iron & Steel. Other legal advisors who advised a significant number of M&A transactions during 2010 include Trilegal (16), Tatva Legal (17), Khaitan & Co. (14), Amarchand & Mangaldas (13), Rajani Associates (11), Nishith Desai Associates (9) and J Sagar Associates (8).
Ernst & Young advised 26 M&A deals worth almost USD18 billion during the period, including GTL’s acquisition of Aircel’s tower business, Kalanidhi Maran’s bid for SpiceJet and Bharti’s acquisition of Zain’s African operations. Other transaction advisors who had advised a significant number of M&A deals during 2010 include Deloitte (16), BMR Advisors (11), Avendus (10), ICICI Bank (9) and Kotak (10).
