Indian law firms: Top global leagues
When it comes to closing billion-dollar deals, companies, it seems, are banking more than ever on Indian law firms to get the job done. Indian law firm Luthra & Luthra has emerged the largest legal advisor in the world for project finance deals closed in the first half of 2009.
The tables for PPP (public private partnership) deals are also led by Indian firms, according to data collected by deal tracker Dealogic. These, interestingly, are not amongst the best-known legal firms in India, though they are certainly amongst the biggest.
The Dealogic report confirms that with six deals totalling $6.3 billion and a market share of 6.3 per cent, Luthra & Luthra were the top legal firm in project finance deals. Indian Law Services came second with 14 deals worth over $6 billion, giving it a market share of 6 per cent.
Even in global PPP, Luthra closed deals worth $3 billion or 10 per cent of the market. Collectively, top Indian law firms cornered 28.2 per cent of the global market for PPP deals and 18.1 per cent of the global project finance deals.
This strong performance, however, could well be by default as the global economic downturn has wiped out projects and funding opportunities in most countries. It is only the Indian subcontinent which saw 36 projects close with a value of $31.9 billion — an increase of 158 per cent on the same period last year (April-June 2008).
India’s strong numbers, in fact, improved Asia’s overall showing, making it the only region exhibiting an increase in project finance volumes by 6 per cent. North America (-37 per cent) and Western Europe (-41 per cent) both recorded dramatic falls.
