AZB tops League Table for Legal Advisors to Private Equity deals in 2020

In a year dominated by the mega investments in Reliance Industries (RIL) Group companies - especially Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail Ventures - AZB & Partners again topped the Venture Intelligence League Table for Legal Advisor to Private Equity Transactions for 2020. AZB advised PE deals worth $22.9 Billion (across 70 qualifying deals) during the year. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) ($17.5 Billion across 79 deals) and Davis Polk & Wardwell ($12.4 Billion across 14 deals) took the second and third spots respectively. Shardhul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) ($11.1 Billion across 31 deals) and Khaitan & Co. ($6.1 Billion across 64 deals) completed the top five.

AZB, Davis Polk & Wardwell, SAM, Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Nishith Desai Associates, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Paul Weiss, Latham & Watkins, Paul Hastings and Trilegal acted as the legal advisors to Reliance Industries and the various private equity investors involved in the $9.8 Billion fund raise for its telecom arm Jio Platforms.

CAM, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Latham & Watkins, SAM, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Trilegal and Paul Weiss acted as the legal advisors to Reliance Industries and the various private equity investors involved in the $6.4 Billion fund raise for its retail venture.

AZB, Khaitan & Co. and CAM advised Brookfield's $3.7 Billion acquisition of Reliance Tower Infrastructure Trust.

Khaitan & Co., AZB and CAM and advised RMZ Corporation’s $1.9 Billion acquisition of Brookfield asset.

CAM and Trilegal advised Blackstone's $1 Billion acquisition of packaging glass manufacturer Piramal Glass.

IndusLaw, AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates, Khaitan & Co., L&L Partners, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Trilegal and Gunderson Dettmer acted as the legal advisors to Zomato Media’s $660 million fund raise from various Private Equity investors.

The Venture Intelligence League Tables, the first such initiative exclusively tracking transactions involving India-based companies, are based on the value of PE and M&A transactions advised by Financial and Legal Advisory firms.

Among the largest deals in the Oct-Dec quarter, CAM and Davis Polk & Wardwell advised the recent Private Equity investments in Reliance Retail Ventures ($3.9 Billion in Q4’20). AZB advised the $1 Billion acquisition of Reliance Digital Fibre Infrastructure Trust by ADIA. CAM and Trilegal advised Blackstone's $1 Billion acquisition of packaging glass manufacturer Piramal Glass.

Among foreign firms, Davis Polk & Wardwell came on top having advised 14 deals worth $12.4 Billion. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett came second with 5 deals worth $3.6 Billion. Kirkland & Ellis came third having advised 2 deals worth $2.1 Billion. Latham & Watkins ($2 Billion across 2 deals) and Paul Weiss ($1.4 Billion across 2 deals) completed the top five.

The full league table can be viewed online at https://www.ventureintelligence.com/leagues.php

By Deal Volume

Burgeon Law topped the tables in terms of deal volume having advised 113 deals during the year. IndusLaw came second with 89 deals. This was followed by CAM with 79 deals. AZB (70 deals) and Khaitan (64 deals) took the fourth and fifth spot respectively.

Among foreign firms, Davis Polk & Wardwell again topped the table in terms of deal volume having advised 14 deals during the period followed by Gunderson Dettmer with 9 deals. Goodwin Procter took the third spot having advised 6 deals.

By Industry

Among PE transactions in Infrastructure (by value), AZB ($15.3 Billion across 20 deals) stood first followed by Davis Polk & Wardell ($9.9 Billion across 11 deals) and SAM ($6.5 Billion across 8 deals) in the second and third spots respectively. By deal volume, AZB (14 deals) topped the table followed by Davis Polk & Wardell (11 deals). Trilegal, Burgeon Law, and SAM advised 8 deals each taking the third spot.

In IT & ITeS investments (by value), IndusLaw topped the table having advised deals worth $1.9 Billion followed by Khaitan & Co. with $1.7 Billion. AZB took the third spot having advised deals worth $1.5 Billion. J Sagar Associates (JSA) ($1.3 Billion) and CAM ($1.1 Billion) took the fourth and fifth spots respectively. In terms of deal volume, Burgeon Law topped the table with 74 deals, followed by IndusLaw with 65 deals. Samvad Partners (46 deals), Algo Legal (42 deals), and Anoma Legal (40 deals) took third, fourth, and fifth place respectively.

CAM topped (by value and volume) in Retail having advised 8 deals worth $6.4 Billion. It was followed by SAM ($2.5 Billion across 4 deals) and Davis Polk & Wardwell (3 deals worth $2.5 Billion) in the second and third spots.

Under Real Estate, CAM and AZB topped the table having advised deals worth $2.3 Billion across 5 deals each. They were followed by Khaitan & Co. with $2 Billion across 3 deals.

Under Financial Services, AZB topped the table having advised deals worth $1.6 Billion (across 7 deals), followed by Khaitan & Co. with $590 million (across 8 deals). CAM came third having advised 8 deals worth $553 million. S&R Associates and Trilegal completed the top five.

The full league table can be viewed online at https://www.ventureintelligence.com/leagues.php

To showcase your firms' transactions in the 2020 League Tables, mail Vanathi at

deals@ventureintelligence.com.

Venture Intelligence is India's longest serving provider of data and analysis on Private Company Financials, Transactions (private equity, venture capital and M&A) & their Valuations in India.

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