Citigroup has emerged as the top advisor for mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2003, as per the Bloomberg India League Tables.
It was advisor for deals worth $407.52 during the six months, followed by Credit Suisse Frist Boston and WestLB AG which did deals worth $194.67 million each and Rabobank International ($132.88 million).
Citigroup has topped the value sweepstakes driven by HP's sale of the software business to Digital for $390 million.
CSFB and WestLB AG co-advised P&O's $194.67 million acquisition of the Mundhra port owned by the Adanis.
As regards the number of deals, professional services firm Ernst & Young tops the list with 13 deals to its credit during January-June 2003.
Merrill Lynch & Co is second with seven deals, while Citigroup and Ambit Corporate Finance are tied on the third spot with five deals each.
Ernst & Young, which topped the 2002 league table for the number of deals done, closed a few cross-border transactions during the first half of 2003.
These deals include border transactions like Chambal's acquisition of Technico Pty in Australia, the acquisition of Essar's energy business by Bin Jabr Group of West Asia and the joint venture between Moser Baer and Imation Corporation.
Other prominent deals from E&Y include Shreyas Life Sciences' acquisition of Plethico Pharma's ethical formulations business and Hindustan Lever's divestment of the Glucovita brand to Wipro Ltd.
The other big ticket deal during this period was Hindalco's acquisition of copper mines in Australia for $94 million, where N M Rothschild was the advisor.
