AZB has replaced Desai & Diwanji, which came top of data provider mergermarket's league table for the full 2009 calendar year with 24 deals done for a total value of $4.3bn, while Khaitan & Co was then in second place with 20 deals ahead of then third-placed AZB with 20 transactions.
After the first three months of this calendar year AZB has now acted on $13.5bn, already far exceeding its total value of transactions 2009 and by acting on 16 announced deals has almost hit its 2009 full-year deal tally.
The $9bn Bharti Airtel – Zain bid carried the credit to a large extent, which also propelled the deal's other advisers Herbert Smith and Linklaters to the top of the league table by value.
Legally India also reported on 31 March that Allen & Overy and Trilegal advised Bharti Airtel's banks in arranging $8.3bn loan for the Zain takeover, although such bank mandates are not taken into account for the purpose of the mergermarket ranking.
AZB also acted for Fortis Healthcare's 23.9 per cent $685m acquisition in Parkway Holdings, which was advised by Singaporean law firm WongPartnership.
AZB advised Tata Teleservices on its $290m sale of 21st Century Infra Tele to Wireless-TT Info-Services, which was advised by Desai & Diwanji. The deal was announced on 17 March.
And another Tata group company, Tata Motors, gifted AZB the instruction to sell 20 per cent or $257m in Telco Construction Equipment Company to Hitachi Construction Machinery.
Another huge coup was recent Dua-breakaway Tatva Legal's mandate in selling 25 per cent worth $213m in coffee exporter and coffee chain Coffee Day Resorts to a private equity consortium including KKR India, New Silk Route and Standard Chartered. The private equity houses were advised by AZB, Desai & Diwanji and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Two stake sales by Pipavav Shipyards of 20 per cent by public offer and 19.43 per cent by stake sale in late March to SKIL Infrastructure, notched up another two mandates for AZB, which advised the buyer.
Other notable deals included Amarchand and Desai & Diwanji respectively acting for the buyer construction company Welspun Infratech, which acquired MSK Projects for $61.75m.
Other newcomers to the ranking include Argus Partners, which started up out of Amarchand in Kolkata last year and has advised on two deals, as reported by Legally India this year.
India accounted for 3.9 per cent by value of the total deals announced in the Asia Pacific region, with Hong Kong taking the lion's share of 36.4 per cent. By volume, India accounted for 10.7 per cent of the total number of deals done in the region.
In the Asia Pacific region total M&A volumes rose by 124 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, against the same time period last year. Over half of the M&A activity was the result of foreign inbound investment. However, deal figures were still lower than the last quarter of 2009, which was the region's largest ever quarter by deal value, according to mergermarket.
Asia Pacific made up 19 per cent of global M&A volumes, which is higher than the quarterly average of 10 per cent over the last seven years.
M&A advisers by volume, 1 January - 31 March 2010
| Q1 2010 rank | Y/E 2009 rank | Firm | Value (US$m) | Deal Count (Q1 2010) | Deal Count (2009 full-year) |
| 1 | 3 | AZB & Partners | 13,456 | 16 | 20 |
| 2 | 1 | Desai & Diwanji | 276 | 7 | 24 |
| 3 | 4 | Amarchand Mangaldas | 1,935 | 4 | 16 |
| 4 | 2 | Khaitan & Co | 24 | 3 | 20 |
| 5 | - | Argus Partners | 162 | 2 | - |
| 5 | - | Herbert Smith/Gleiss Lutz/ Stibbe | 10,700 | 1 | - |
| 7 | - | Linklaters | 10,700 | 1 | - |
| 8 | - | Wadia Ghandy & Co | 1,840 | 1 | - |
| 9 | - | Crawford Bayley | 1,184 | 1 | - |
| 9 | - | Tozzini Freire Teixeira E Silva Advogados | 1,184 | 1 | - |
| 9 | - | Veirano Advogados | 1,184 | 1 | - |
| 12 | - | Wong Partnership | 685 | 1 | - |
| 13 | - | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | 213 | 1 | - |
| 13 | - | Tatva Legal | 213 | 1 | - |
| 15 | - | Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison | 200 | 1 | - |
| 15 | - | Shearman & Sterling | 200 | 1 | - |
Source: mergermarket
Methodology: mergermarket included announced transactions over $5m in value from 1 January to 31 March 2010. Deals with undisclosed values were included if the target's turnover exceeded $10m. Deals where a stake of less than 30 per cent is acquired were only included if the value exceeded $100m.Read about the 2009 half-year and third quarter and full 2009 calendar year M&A league tables.
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I am having this confusion as there are references to Asia Pacific but some foreign firms which usually have India related M&A work are not showing.
u will get your answer there!
I will check with mergermarket and revert.
Best,
Kian
The criteria are: "The mergermarket database includes Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) where there is a transfer in ownership of an economic interest in an ongoing business concern."
They add: "If there is a change in the ownership, we do treat it as M&A. It does not matter whether the bidder is a PE firm or not. If some deals are excluded from the database, it is because of other reasons."
They are happy to investigate further if you have any specific queries.
Best,
Kian
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