E&Y, Avendus top transaction advisors

Corporate law firm AZB & Partners continues to top the Venture Intelligence India League Tables as the most active legal advisor for both private equity and M&A deals -- advising a total of 51 transactions -- in the first six months of 2011.

Ernst & Young topped the Most Active Transaction Advisor Table under Private Equity and Avendus Capital topped as the Most Active Transaction Advisor under M&A for the six months-ended June, 2011.

Among PE transactions, AZB advised 30 deals during the period including Bain Capital’s investment in Hero Investments and the investment by GIC in GVK Energy. Other legal advisors who advised a significant number of PE transactions during the period include Indus Law with 22 deals and ALMT Legal with 16 deals. Nishith Desai Associates and Trilegal advised nine deals each, while DSK Legal and Khaitan & Co advised eight deals each.

Ernst & Young advised nine PE deals during the period, including Sun-Apollo's investment in Parsvnath Developers and Kitara Capital's investment in TVS Automobile Solutions. Other transaction advisors who advised a significant number of PE deals during the six months-ended June 10 include Avendus Capital (with 4 deals) and o3 Capital and Religare (with 2 deals each).

Among M&A transactions, AZB advised 21 deals during the period, including the Pearson's acquisition of TutorVista and Vodafone's acquisition of Vodafone Essar. Other legal advisors who advised a significant number of M&A transactions during the six months ended June '11 include Khaitan & Co. (15) ALMT Legal and DSK Legal (seven deals each) and J Sagar Associates with six deals .

Avendus Capital advised eight M&A deals during H1'11 including the iGate Global Solutions' acquisition of Patni Computers and Serco's acquisition of Intelenet. Other transaction advisors who had advised a significant number of M&A deals during the six months ended June 11 include PwC (4), Ernst & Young (5) and MAPE (3).