Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) climbed up five ranks since Mergermarket’s preview of 2015’s annual rankings, to overtake Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM).
CAM, according to the preview published by Legally India on 17 December, was the third largest M&A dealmaker after AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co.
SAM acted on two fewer deals than CAM, but aggregated $5.7bn – exactly $314m more than CAM’s aggregate of $5.3bn.
The preview rankings had only accounted for 20 of SAM’s M&A’s while CAM had docketed 30. CAM added three more deals to its count while SAM’s final deal count sits at 31.
There was no change in AZB’s leading, and Khaitan’s runners up, status since the preview. AZB’s final deal count is 82, instead of the 73 deals reflected in December 2015’s preliminary annual rankings. Its final aggregate deal value rose by $739m to $11.1bn.
For Khaitan, one deal valuing $20m was added since the temporary rankings. Its aggregate deal value in the final rankings is $7.4bn from 51 deals.
2014’s annual leader erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas was on fifth place with its 21 deals worth $4.8bn.
Trilegal one-upped Nishith Desai Associates since the temporary rankings and the firms exchanged ranks 13 and 14. Talwar Thakore & Associates, which was absent from the December rankings, made its way at the end of the table shunting 15th ranker Simpson Thatcher and Bartlett out of the table.
There was no other change in rankings for the top 15 firms since the preview.
By value
| 2015 | 2014 | Firm | Value (US$m) | Deal count | Value change y-o-y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | AZB & Partners | 11,191 | 82 | 34.5% |
| 2 | 8 | Khaitan & Co | 7,409 | 51 | 80% |
| 3 | - | Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co | 5,658 | 31 | - |
| 4 | - | Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas | 5,344 | 33 | - |
| 5 | 1 | Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co | 4,776 | 21 | -75.8% |
| 6 | 17 | J Sagar Associates | 3,827 | 37 | 77.3% |
| 7 | 4 | Luthra & Luthra Law Offices | 3,167 | 15 | -40.0% |
| 8 | 3 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | 2,738 | 2 | -56.5% |
| 9 | 20 | Clifford Chance | 2,568 | 3 | 66% |
| 10 | 14 | Sullivan & Cromwell | 2,308 | 2 | -16.1% |
| 11 | 5 | S&R Associates | 2,284 | 9 | -52.8% |
| 12 | 34 | Linklaters | 2,234 | 8 | 331.3% |
| 13 | 30 | Nishith Desai Associates | 2,052 | 18 | 219.6% |
| 14 | 19 | Trilegal | 1,976 | 29 | 10.3% |
| 15 | - | Talwar Thakore & Associates | 1,581 | 5 | - |
By volume
| 2015 | 2014 | Firm | Value (US$m) | Deal Count | Count change y-o-y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | AZB & Partners | 11,191 | 82 | 33 |
| 2 | 5 | Khaitan & Co | 7,409 | 51 | 20 |
| 3 | 3 | J Sagar Associates | 3,827 | 37 | -3 |
| 4 | - | Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas | 5,344 | 33 | - |
| 5 | - | Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas | 5,658 | 31 | - |
| 6 | 6 | Trilegal | 1,976 | 29 | 13 |
| 7 | 4 | Desai & Diwanji | 850 | 26 | -6 |
| 8 | 2 | Amarchand & Mangaldas | 4,776 | 21 | -24 |
| 9 | 15 | BMR Legal | 1,320 | 20 | 13 |
| 10 | 13 | Nishith Desai Associates | 2,052 | 18 | 11 |
| 11 | 7 | Luthra & Luthra Law Offices | 3,167 | 15 | 0 |
| 12 | 19 | IndusLaw | 1,481 | 14 | 9 |
| 13 | 9 | P.H. Bathiya & Associates | 1,037 | 14 | 1 |
| 14 | 25 | HSA Advocates | 30 | 11 | 7 |
| 15 | 21 | S&R Associates | 2,284 | 9 | 5 |
Comments
Possibly it shows that clients with big money trust these firms. But then it's a vicious cycle. If you don't have experience you won't get big deals - and you won't get experience.
Good work by SSS - after loosing entire Mumbai office, if he has been able to trump CAM which has a established Mumbai presence- it speaks volumes.
I don't think one can deduce shift of clientele from these numbers. As someone mentioned above, its just a stupid table.
Where did you get all this data from? Can you get similar numbers on VC/PE deals?