Khaitan & Co tops the MergerMarket half-yearly league table by value, with 20 deals valued at 4.5 billion USD, beating both Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners.
As per the MergerMarket report, the first half of the year witnessed extraordinary M&A activity in India with 178 deals valued at 19.2 billion USD. This represents an 11.4% value growth against 156 announcements worth 17.2 billion USD in the same period last year.
The Technology sector saw the highest amount of deal activity with 20 deal announcements amounting to 883 million USD.
Deal Value
Khaitan tops the league table by value. The deal that took them to the top is Vedanta Resources merging its two Indian units— Vedanta Ltd and Cairn India Ltd. The transaction was valued at 2.15 billion USD.
Amarchand Mangaldas is ranked second, with 15 deals valued at 4.03 billion USD, followed by AZB & Partners with 33 deals valued at 3.8 billion USD.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was involved in the two of the biggest deals – Aditya Birla Nuvo’s Madura Fashion and Lifestyle merger with Pantaloon Fashion valued at 1.2 billion USD and the Ultratech-Jaiprakash deal valued at 842 million USD.
AZB & partners acted on Mylan’s acquisition of Famy Care for 800 million USD along with Luthra & Luthra, Platinum Partners and Crawford Bayley.
There is no other Indian law firm in the league table. The foreign firms to make it to the league table include Davis Polk & Wardwell, Gomez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados, Lee and Li Attorneys at Law, Morrison & Foerster, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Sullivan & Cromwell, Locke Lord and White & Case.
PH Bathiya & Associates, which occupied second place in the Q1 table, finds no mention in the H1 table. Luthra & Luthra, which was ranked 7th in the first quarter is also missing from the half-yearly top ten.
| S. No. | Law Firm | Deal Value (US$ million) | Deal Count | % Value change |
| 1. | Khaitan & Co | 4,557 | 20 | 221.8% |
| 2. | Amarchand Mangaldas | 4,034 | 15 | -52.7% |
| 3. | AZB & Partners | 3,825 | 33 | 50.3% |
| 4. | Davis Polk and Wardwell | 2,738 | 2 | -54.6% |
| =5. | Gomez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados | 2,500 | 1 | – |
| =5. | Lee and Li Attorneys at Law | 2,500 | 1 | – |
| =5. | Morrison & Foerster | 2,500 | 1 | 27,677.8% |
| =5. | Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe | 2,500 | 1 | – |
| 9. | Sullivan & Cromwell | 2,158 | 1 | -14.2% |
| =10. | Locke Lord | 2,150 | 1 | – |
| =10. | White & Case | 2,150 | 1 | -49.4% |
Deal Count
AZB & Partners tops the chart with 33 deals, followed by Khaitan at 20, which has moved up from fifth position to second. Amarchand Mangaldas is at third position with 15 deals, losing its first spot in H1 2014. Right behind is Desai & Diwanji with 14 deals valued at 571 million USD.
J Sagar Associates (12 deals valued at 1.02 billion USD) and Luthra & Luthra (11 deals valued at 1.04 million USD) are ranked at fifth and sixth positions respectively.
The new entrant in the top 10 is BMR Legal with 8 deals valued at 1 billion USD, followed by Trilegal (8 deals valued at 759 million USD), Nishith Desai Associates (8 deals at 186 million USD) and S&R Associates (6 deals valued at 771 million USD).
Tatva Legal, which was among the top ten in the Q1 tables, finds no mention.
| S. No. | Law Firm | Deal Value (in US$ million) | Deal Count | Count Change |
| 1. | AZB & Partners | 3,825 | 33 | 11 |
| 2. | Khaitan & Co | 4,557 | 20 | 5 |
| 3. | Amarchand Mangaldas | 4,034 | 15 | -10 |
| 4. | Desai & Diwanji | 571 | 14 | -5 |
| 5. | J Sagar Associates | 1,028 | 12 | -6 |
| 6. | Luthra & Luthra | 1,042 | 11 | 2 |
| 7. | BMR Legal | 1,024 | 8 | 4 |
| 8. | Trilegal | 759 | 8 | -3 |
| 9. | Nishith Desai Associates | 185 | 8 | 6 |
| 10. | S&R Associates | 771 | 6 | 2 |
The post MergerMarket H1 2015: Khaitan on top by deal value; M&A market sees deals worth $19.2 billion
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