Venture Intelligence has come out with its Private Equity (PE) and Mergers & Acquisitions (M & A) league tables for the first 9 months of 2010 and the results are not surprising.

Private Equity -

The PE league table evaluates law firms as legal advisors for the first 9 months of 2010. AZB & Partners comes out on the top as being the most active legal advisors with 36 deals in PE, amounting to $2,015 million (approximately Rs. 450 crore) with deals like Viom Networks – SBI Macquarie, Coffee Day Resorts –NSR and KKR as their star deals.

 IndusLaw stands at second position in the PE table acting as an advisor in 15 deals with biggies like  Micromax - TA Associates and Sequoia Capital Sandstone Partners investing in Micromax.

According to a press release sent to Bar & Bench, Partner Gaurav Dani has quoted, “2010 has been a significant year of growth for us.  This year, particularly, has been one where we have been involved with some of the most prominent Private Equity and M & A transactions in India. The addition of talented professionals to our team, our greatly enhanced office infrastructure and our constant commitment to exceeding standards of excellence has enabled us to meet increased client expectations with ease”. 

ALMT and Trilegal tie at third place and Amarchand, DSK Legal and Nishith Desai Associates tie at forurth position. Surprisingly Luthra stands at sixth position with deals like Moser Baer – Blackstone and Muthoot Finance in its pocket.

Mergers & Acquisitions -

The M & A league table evaluates law firms as legal advisors for the first 9 months of 2010. During the 9 months ended September 2010, Indian companies were involved in 474 M & A deals, up 72 percent from the same period in 2009, a study by Venture Intelligence reveals.

Amongst M & A transactions, AZB & Partners advised on 33 deals amounting to $21,787 million (approximately Rs. 4,800 crore) and has kept a firm hold on the first position with the Zain Bharti – Airtel and controversial Cairn – Vedanta deal .

Trilegal stands at second position with 10 transactions and Tatva Legal comes to a close third with 11 deals in hand.

* Business unit / asset sale

^ One Fully Qualified Deal (as per Venture Intelligence definitions) = 2 Points

Venture Intelligence league tables exclusively tracks transactions involving India-based companies and is a leading source of information and analysis on Private Equity, Venture Capital and M & A in India.