This quarter’s biggest deal – the $1.6bn sale of Strides Arcolab’s subsidiary to Nasdaq-listed generic drugs-maker Mylan Inc – propelled DSK Legal and Platinum Partners to the top of the value league table.
Although AZB’s reported deals increased by six this quarter, the value of those deals at $510m has decreased by 77 per cent as against the same quarter in 2012.
Trilegal acted on eight M&A deals worth $188m in total – five more deals than were reported in the same period last year. Khaitan & Co’s reported deal count dropped by four to six with a value of $67m, while Amarchand dropped from 12 in the first quarter of 2013 to four now (total value of $107m).
Also on the league table are Desai & Diwanji with four deals, and MNK Law Offices – a Delhi-based law firm set up in 1996 - and J Sagar Associates (JSA), all with aggregate deal values below $100m.
Values game
The values league table for the first quarter has been dominated by nine advisers on the $1.6bn Strides Arcolab Mylan takeover, of whom DSK and Platinum are India-based.
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and White & Case got a $537m bump from Manila Electric Company and FPM Power Holdings buy of a power plant in Singapore from GMR Infrastructure.
Comparatively dry?
In the same time period last year, Amarchand and Luthra & Luthra each had more than $10bn of M&A deals to their name on the back of the $10.3bn Sesa Goa and Sterlite Industries merger. AZB had amassed more than $2bn, while S&R Associates and Khaitan & Co (ranked sixth and seventh respectively last year) had a volume tally of more than $500m.
In the 2012 calendar year league table, Desai Diwanji had topped the volume table with 43 reported deals worth $1.4bn, followed by Amarchand (39 deals of $20bn), Khaitan with (34 deals totalling $2.3bn), AZB (26 deals / $4.6bn), DSK (17 deals / $1.5bn), Trilegal (17 deals / $750m) and J Sagar Associates (JSA) (14 deals / $660m). .
Macro
In the first quarter of this year, the total M&A deals in India slumped by more than 80 per cent to only $2.9bn, according to mergermarket data, or by 58 per cent if excluding 2012 giant Sesa Goa deal. Outbound deal from India were at their lowest since Q3 of 2010 at only $600m. The total announced deal volume decreased from 77 to 55, in a Q1 year-by-year comparison. Deal activity in the Asia Pacific region was almost as lacklustre, dropping by 26 per cent by value.
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Legal Advisors by Value – Q1 2013
| Rank (Q1 2012) | Rank (Q1 2013) | Firm | Value (US$m) | # Deals | % Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change | Q1 2012 | Q1 2013 | |||
| - | 1= | Barbosa, Mussnich & Aragao | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| 8 | 1= | DSK Legal | 1,600 | 1 | 73.70% |
| - | 1= | Haynes and Boone | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| 12 | 1= | Herbert Smith Freehills | 1,600 | 1 | 305.10% |
| - | 1= | Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| - | 1= | Pinheiro Neto Advogados | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| - | 1= | Platinum Partners | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| 3 | 1= | Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom | 1,600 | 1 | -84.40% |
| - | 1= | Slaughter and May | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| - | 10 | Webber Wentzel | 548 | 1 | - |
| - | 11= | Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy | 537 | 1 | |
| - | 11= | White & Case | 537 | 1 | |
| 5 | 13 | AZB & Partners | 510 | 13 | -76.30% |
| 22 | 14 | Trilegal | 188 | 8 | 22.10% |
| - | 15= | Lawrence Graham | 151 | 1 | - |
| - | 15= | Norton Rose | 151 | 1 | - |
Legal Advisors by Number of Deals – Q1 2013
| Rank (Q1 2012) | Rank (Q1 2013) | Firm | Value (US$m) | # Deals | Change in deals # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1 | AZB & Partners | 510 | 13 | 6 |
| 8 | 2 | Trilegal | 188 | 8 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | Khaitan & Co | 67 | 6 | -4 |
| 2 | 4 | Amarchand Mangaldas | 107 | 4 | -8 |
| 1 | 5 | Desai & Diwanji | 26 | 4 | -11 |
| - | 6 | MNK Law Offices | 59 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 7 | J Sagar Associates | 25 | 3 | - |
| 52 | 8 | DLA Piper | 45 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | 9 | Nishith Desai Associates | 41 | 2 | -3 |
| - | 10 | Argus Partners | 11 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 11 | K Law | 0 | 2 | -4 |
| - | 12 | Barbosa, Mussnich & Aragao | 1,600 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 13 | DSK Legal | 1,600 | 1 | -7 |
| - | 14 | Haynes and Boone | 1,600 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 | 15 | Herbert Smith Freehills | 1,600 | 1 | -1 |
| - | 16 | Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 1,600 | 1 | 1 |
| - | 17 | Pinheiro Neto Advogados | 1,600 | 1 | 1 |
| - | 18 | Platinum Partners | 1,600 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | 19 | Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom | 1,600 | 1 | - |
| - | 20 | Slaughter and May | 1,600 | 1 | 1 |
Source: mergermarket
Comments
Also, they don't track closings but announced deals.
For reference, here are the criteria that mergermarket uses:
[quote]All data is based on announced transactions over US$ 5m. Deals with undisclosed deal values are included where the target’s turnover exceeds US$ 10m. Deals where the stake acquired is less than 10% will only be included if their value is greater than US$ 100m. Activities excluded include property transactions and restructurings where the ultimate shareholders’ interests are not changed. All data excludes minority stake deals (10% -30%) where the dominant target geography is Asia-Pacific and the deal value is less than US$ 100m.[/quote]
To be fair, the picture is often like that in the first quarter league tables, since there might be one stand-out massive deal that distorts the rankings, while many firms may also have under-reported their deal invovements.
Things might adjust a little, though the picture doesn't look great for Q1 anyway.