The three firms held the top three spots of data provider Dealogic’s global league table for the first half-year of 2009, having together advised on deals of a higher value than the next six largest law firms.
Luthra & Luthra advised on six project finance deals worth a total of $6.3bn (Rs 30,000 crore), Mumbai-headquartered project finance specialists Indian Law Services advised on a total of 14 deals worth $6.0bn, and Amarchand advised on five deals worth $5.8bn.
Over the same period last year the three firms were only in 24th, 40th and 25th place respectively.
The Indian firms racked up their totals by advising mostly lenders, with Luthra & Luthra in particular leading for the lenders of the $3.8bn Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, which was the largest global private finance initiative / public private partnership (PFI / PPP) this year (see box).
Total PFI / PPP deals increased in India by from $1.4bn to $8.3bn compared to the first half of the year 2008, signalling the increasing popularity of the structure.
Indian firms benefited, with Luthra & Luthra also leading the PFI/PPP table with three deals worth $2.9bn, followed by DSK Legal with one deal of $1.9bn and India Law Services advising on seven deals worth $1.8bn.
White & Case, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper and Latham & Watkins were the highest ranked anglo-saxon international legal advisers in the total projects top 10, with Ashurst, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also making an appearance in the PFI / PPP rankings.
The world’s top projects financial adviser by far was State Bank of India, which was involved in a total of $22.7bn of project financing, making up almost a third of all project finance deals globally.
The world’s top four sponsors of project finance deals were the Indian Government (on $5.9bn), Reliance Industries (on $3.8bn), the Vodafone Group (on $3.4bn) and Adani Group (on $3bn).
By country, Brazil was the overall runner-up in the project finance table, where deal volumes had increased by 488 per cent over the same periods, though the total deal values were still only little over half of India’s totals.
Project finance deal values in the US, which came in third place, fell by 47 per cent. Spain and the UK came in fourth and fifth places, with total deals falling by 29 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.
Largest deals:
| Luthra & Luthra: $3.8bn Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (for lender) $2.6bn Dahej Ethylene Cracker Plant (for consortium) $1.8bn Mundra Thermal Power Project Phase 4 (for lender) India Law Services: $3.3bn Vodafone Essar Seven Circles GSM Network Rollout (for lender) $1.3bn Gondia Coal-Fired Thermal Power Project Phase 1(for lender) $886m NH1 (Panipat - Jalandhar Section) Six Laning Highway PPP (for lender) Amarchand Mangaldas: $5.5bn IOC Paradip Refinery project (for lender) $2.6bn Dahej Ethylene Cracker Plant (for lender) $1.7bn Jharsuguda 2400MW Coal-Fired Power Plant Project (for lender) |
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Source: Dealogic
Click here to download the complete PDF of Dealogic’s global project finance league table.
Comments
[Ed: Thanks for pointing out - this is not intentional. The related articles links are currently generated automatically and randomly selected by reference to the keywords used, of which "league tables" was one. Unfortunately the system is currently not perfect in its matches but we will work on improving it.]
FYI, Allen & Overy has been placed 1st in the Dealogic league table for the last 5 years for successfully closing more projects globally than any other law firm by both volume and value of projects. I seriously doubt anyone in A&O would have considered this (i.e. being displaced by an Indian law firm) even remotely possible.
We are doing our best but realise that Legally India is by no means perfect. I therefore welcome all criticism and feedback. If you do not like something or the site does not work the way you expect, please let us know either through a comment or preferably with a short anonymous message via the 'email us now' box on the right.
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Kian
While conducting training sessions - I often write the following on a white board:
8+5 = 13
9+4 = 13
7+6 = 13
6+6 = 13
3+10 = 13
6+7 = 13
I then ask the audience to tell me what they see. Almost everyone invariably points out that 6+6 = 12 and not 13. Nobody has anything else to say with respect to the other equations.
The point I then convey is this. By nature, all of us are quick to find faults. In fact, most of us revel in finding faults. While everyone pointed out that one equation was wrong - nobody ever thought of pointing out that the other 5 were correct. This is how we go about living our lives - invariably finding fault in everything a person does and in everything that a person does not do.
Kian is doing a fantastic job running this site and needs to be commended. I've not come across any other site, which covers Indian law firms in particular and the Indian legal industry in general, like Kian's site. For all its imperfections, let's give Kian a chance instead of accusing him of bias, incompetence and what not.
In the same vein, criticize by all means. Your post are 419 shows that you indeed have an eye for detail. That's a hallmark of a good lawyer. However, try and make your criticism constructive. That's where progress lies.
Thanks for your time in reading this and apologies for putting up a comment which is in no way connected with the main story.
Legal Dodo
A singular, honest and legitimate observation, something ackowledged by Kian. Why you are agitated over it defies conventional logic...
Your comments not to judge someone on one months' worth of news are well meaning. You have an acute insight into complex matters. However, immediately proceeding to appraise on the basis of one comment thereafter kind of makes your remarks devoid of substance. But I am sure that was a mistake.
"In fact I would say to you criticize by all means. Your post shows that you indeed have an eye for detail. That's a hallmark of a good lawyer. However, try and make your criticism constructive. That's where progress lies."
Your analogy was very interesting but it would have been more constructive to the debate had you simply put the arithmetical sums on the board. Asking them to find faults in it is not a very good example.
One must be careful not to be so overtly sensitive to a comment. However, try and make your criticism constructive. That's where progress lies.
In hope that I haven't got this wrong, and I dont ever see the day when my batchmates currently working in magic circle firms in the UK returning to India as far better lawyers (or as our bosses!)
No - I think its pretty much out of the question.
Though one never knows what will happen once foreign law firms enter India -that may prove to be a game-changer!
Would you have the direct link to the Dealogic table for us?
[Done, there is now a link at the bottom of the story to the full PDF. Best, Kian].