With $30 bn deals, Rothschild emerges top fin adviser in 2010

Transactions involving Rothschild as the adviser accounted for more than half of the total USD 51 billion M&A deals in 2010.

"Rothschild advised on 24 deals worth USD 30.1 billion throughout 2010 and topped the financial adviser league tables by deal count and value," mergermarket data showed.

It was followed by Morgan Stanley which was involved in deals valued at USD 26.5 billion and Barclays Capital which advised companies in transactions to tune of USD 23 billion.

In terms of the number of deals, Rothschild was followed by Ernst & Young (23) and Kotak Investment Banking (14).

Last year, there were 282 M&A transactions amounting to USD 51 billion. Out of total deal value, telecommunications sector made up for over 38 per cent.

Among the financial advisers, Standard Chartered was involved in seven deals worth USD 22.4 billion while UBS Investment Bank had six transactions valued at USD 14.2 billion.

Meanwhile, mergermarket's deputy editor Anjali Naik stressed that 2011 could potentiall set a new record in terms of M&A deals.

"Inbound deals (in 2011) would be driven by India's strong fundamentals and robust economy – especially in the telecom, pharmaceutical and industrial sectors.

"Acquisitive Indian companies would look beyond their traditional target geographies of the US and Europe to seek deals in Africa, Latin America and closer to home such as in
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka," Naik noted.