Amarchand Mangaldas maintained its top spot in intelligence provider mergermarket’s M&A league rankings this quarter. The firm continued reporting both the biggest value and the largest number of M&As this quarter as it did in the first half year of 2014.

AZB & Partners recovered from its deal value slip in seventh rank at the half-year point, to climb back to fourth spot, having acted on M&As worth over $4bn by the end of the third quarter this year.

In the top 10 firms by deal count, Vaish Associates exchanged places with S&R Associates to send it to rank 13, while all the others stood ground with minor shuffling in the ranks.

Domestic deal value

Amarchand improved overall deal value by over $1.3bn to $9.6bn by acting on 8 more M&As since the half-year.

AZB’s improvement was better with 10 M&As of over $1.5bn in value. Lanco’s $1bn Udupi Power Station sale was the biggest M&A on which the firm acted this quarter.

JSA and Nishith Desai Associates slipped off the league and DSK Legal and Wadia Ghandy climbed in instead.

Domestic deal volume

The two league front runners alone raked in over 50 M&As this quarter. Amarchand, AZB, Desai & Diwanji, Khaitan & Co, and Luthra & Luthra stuck to their half-yearly ranks.

Desai & Diwanji managed to close 19 deals at an average value of only $11m, while Amarchand’s average was $344m over 28 deals, and AZB’s $152m in 27.

Khaitan’s average deal size came in at $76m over 18 deals, while Trilegal came fifth, and Luthra and JSA tied for sixth with 11 deals. However, Luthra’s average deal size was $448m, while Trilegal and JSA had average accounted deal sizes of $125m and $52m respectively.

MNK Law offices, Wadia Ghandy and Rajani Singhania & Partners were the new entrants on the volume table this quarter as Crawford Bayley and K Law slipped off.

Foreign firms by value

Davis Polk & Wardwell continued heading up deal counts and values amongst foreign firms, having been involved in five deals worth more than $6bn, followed by White & Case and Shearman & Sterling, reprising their top three positions from the first half of the year.

Both Davis Polk and White & Case added one deal to their tally from last half-year, with White & Case overtaking Shearman & Sterling by a whisker, coming in at second place with deals worth $4.3bn.

The UK’s magic circle was represented only by Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May, alongside Herbert Smith Freehills as the other large UK-headquartered international firm.

Linklaters did make it into the volume charts, however, with three deals that were worth $483m.

Foreign firms by deal count

Source: customised data from mergermarket Q3 deal rankings (PDF)

Methodology: Based on announced deals, including lapsed and withdrawn bids
Based on dominant geography of target, bidder or seller company being India
Data correct as of 29-09-2014
Data run from 01-01-2014 to 30-09-2014
Includes all deals valued over USD 5m. Where deal value not disclosed, deal has been entered based on turnover of target exceeding USD 10m
Activities excluded from table include property transactions and restructurings where the ultimate shareholders' interests are not changed