Economic Times has an article on how corporate law firms are benefiting from the boom in PE and M&A deals.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.
Industry observers believe that the revenues at India’s leading law firms which operate in this space like FoxMandal Little, AZB & Partners, Amarchand Mangaldas, Majmudar & Co, DSK Legal and Mulla & Mulla have gone up considerably. They believe many firms will hit record earnings numbers this year. Cyril Shroff, managing partner of Amarchand Mangaldas said: ”We see more private equity deals and inbound-outbound corporate activity in 2007. ”
So when and where exactly does a law firm come into the picture during a deal? Akil Hirani, managing partner, Majmudar & Co says that there are three primary occasions when law firms are always present: term sheet signing, due diligence and during the final negotiation and contract document signing. That the business is booming can be seen by the activity at the firm these days. Mr Hirani says that these days when they are closing deals there could be up to 20 people working on his floor till the wee hours of the morning whereas two years ago there seldom were more than two or three people burning the midnight oil.
“In 2007, law firms are expected to record a revenue growth of 30% to 40% as against revenues in 2006. There are more opportunities for bigger law firms as the size of M&A deals gets bigger. Next year, the growth and revenues will be more than 50%,” said Som Mandal of FoxMandal Little.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.