Desai & Diwanji
Desai & Diwanji acted on 24 M&A deals in the 2009 calendar year, placing it at the top of data provider mergermarket's M&A league table by volume. Amarchand Mangaldas topped the table by value, having advised on M&A deals worth $6.4bn in 2009, while Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners also gave a strong showing.
The Delhi Turf Twenty20 law firm cricket cup saw defending champion Luthra & Luthra and favourites Trilegal and Dua Associates get knocked out in the quarter finals, with Bhasin & Co, Desai & Diwanji, Titus & Co and Saikrishna qualifying for the semis.
Desai & Diwanji, DSK Legal and Wadia Ghandy have triple-teamed on the $100m private equity investment into Hyderabad power company Ind-Barath Power Infra.
For the first time this year, Desai & Diwanji and Khaitan & Co are leading the third quarter Indian M&A rankings both by value and volume of deals, pushing Amarchand Mangaldas two places down mergermarket's value league table compared to three months ago.
Desai & Diwanji has scored the first instruction for the merged Tata Quippo towers business, after having originally advised Quippo Telecom on its joint venture (JV) with Tata Teleservices, which was advised by AZB & Partners.
AZB, DSK and Trilegal have done well in Asia Pacific private equity deal rankings despite heavily depressed values and volumes this year.
Desai & Diwanji and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have sealed Essar Steel's Rs 650 crore ($135m) purchase of Shree Precoated Steels, with JSA facing the "challenging" task of acting as joint counsel to both seller and buyer.
Despite meagre pickings, Desai & Diwanji, Khaitan & Co, AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have topped an M&A league table, together advising on 30 Indian deals worth a total of $9.4bn in the last six months.
Desai & Diwanji has poached a team of four lawyers from Crawford Bayley, taking on one senior associate as a partner.