Deals of the Year 2009

India Business Law Journal celebrates the top transactions and cases of 2009 and reveals the law firms that guided them to fruition

Chris Crowe reports from London

India Business Law Journal’s third annual Deals of the Year Awards differs markedly from its predecessors. While the 2007 edition celebrated huge M&A deals and blockbuster IPOs and the 2008 edition wallowed in the relative gloom of the economic downturn, many of this year’s winning deals may be seen as the green shoots of recovery.

Dealmakers have proven that transactions need not be huge in value to be challenging. Indeed, several of this year’s winning deals have set new standards in terms of their complexity, innovative structuring and international scope.

Following a lengthy period of research and consultation, India Business Law Journal has selected 18 landmark deals closed between December 2008 and December 2009 that showcase transactional talent at its best. The winning deals, which are divided into the categories of finance, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), have been chosen subjectively based on numerous submissions received from Indian and international law firms, a range of interviews conducted with India-focused legal and corporate professionals and transactional data supplied by Mergermarket and Thomson Financial. An additional category of “Disputes of the Year” has been included to recognize the considerable achievements made by lawyers in contentious fields during 2009.