AZB & Partners, Ernst & Young Top the League Tables for 2010

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, the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on volume of PE and M&A transactions advised by Transaction and Legal Advisory firms.

Private Equity Deals

Among PE transactions, AZB advised 43 deals worth over $2.2 billion during 2010 including SBI-Macquarie’s $304 million investment in Viom Networks; the $217 million investment by Standard Chartered PE, KKR and New Silk Route in Coffee Day Resorts; and the $175 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 8 PE deals worth $318 million during the period, including Bain Capital and TPG Growth's $86 million investment in Lilliput Kidswear; Warburg Pincus’ $85 million investment in Metropolis Healthcare and Actis' $78 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.

M&A deals

Among M&A transactions, AZB advised 47 deals worth almost $22.5 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 $18 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).

The full league tables can be viewed online at http://ventureintelligence.in/league.htm

About Venture Intelligence

Venture Intelligence, a division of Chennai, India-based TSJ Media Pvt. Ltd., is the leading provider of data and analysis on Private Equity and M&A transactions in India. For more information, please visit http://www.ventureintelligence.in