Mar 25, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ISI DealWatch releases League Tables for Top M&A Financial Advisers and Top M&A Legal Advisers in the Emerging Markets, for January-December 2009

DealWatch LeagueBoard reports on Financial and Legal Adviser activity in M&A transactions

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

According to the ISI DealWatch database, JP Morgan Chase was the top M&A financial adviser on the Central and Eastern European market in 2009 by deal value. The aggregate value of JP Morgan's deals amounted to USD 8.95bn.

The top M&A regional financial adviser in 2009 by total deals completed, however, was Lazard, having serviced 11 transactions.

Among law firms, Cleary Gottlieb Steen&Hamilton was the top regional legal adviser on the CEE market in 2009, with advisory rolls in deals worth USD 8.04bn in total.

Counting by the deal number it was Havel&Holasek who advised to the largest number of M&A deals in CEE in 2009, with 20 transactions in total.

For a detailed look, see the tables below (Note that in DealWatch's methodology the Baltic States are included, although they also have been treated separately further below; Russia and Ukraine are part of the CIS region and their League Tables are displayed in the CIS section):

BALTIC STATES

According to the DealWatch database, SEB Group was the top M&A financial adviser on the Baltic States' market in 2009, having advised in deals with a combined value of USD 506mn.

SEB Group also topped the rankings of M&A financial advisers in terms of number of deals in 2009, having advised in 6 deals.

Among the law firms, Raidla Lejins & Norcous was the top legal adviser on the Baltic States' market in 2009, as it advised in deals worth USD 784mn in total. However, when counting by the deal number it was Sorainen which advised the largest number of M&A deals in 2009.

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

JP Morgan Chase was the top financial adviser in the CIS region in 2009, having assisted in deals worth USD 8.8bn in total. However, it was Renaissance Capital which advised in the largest number of deals - 9.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen&Hamilton topped the legal adviser ranking in 2009 with deals of the total worth of nearly USD 7.6bn, while Dewey & LeBoeuf was the first (ex aequo with Allen & Overy) in terms of the total number of deals, as it assisted in eight transactions in 2009.

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

The top M&A financial adviser in Southeastern Europe was JP Morgan Chase, having advised in five deals worth USD 2,801mn in total. However, Raiffeisen Group topped the ranking of the most frequent advisers with 9 transactions carried out in 2009 in SEE region.

On the legal side, Clifford Chance concluded the transactions worth in total some USD 2,687mn, while Allen & Overy topped the deal count ranking having advised to thirteen M&A deals in SEE region in 2009.

LATIN AMERICA

According to the DealWatch database, BNP Paribas was the top financial M&A adviser in 2009 in Latin America, as it assisted in deals worth USD 13.38bn in total. On the other hand, Citigroup advised to the largest number of deals - 17.

TozziniFreire Advogados was Latin America's top legal M&A adviser in 2009, having advised in deals worth over USD 25bn in total. In terms of the number of deals, however, Filho Filho Marrey Jr. e Quiroga was on the top position with 33 deals overall.

Explanations:

# the rankings are based on voluntary submission of information from the advisers themselves plus any disclosed information available in the media

# thus deals with undisclosed deal value are counted as with zero value (they still count in the "by number of deals" ranking)

# offices and branches of multinational corporations are treated as being parts of one "global" adviser

# deals "belong" to a given country when at least one of the participants is of this country's origin

# only announced and completed deals are taken into account

# only pure M&A deals are taken into account

# regions in DealWatch are defined as such:

Central and Eastern Europe: Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine.

Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. (the whole sub-region is a part of CEE, too)

Commonwealth of Independent States: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan.

Southeastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey.

Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

In case you would like to submit information on deal activity to DealWatch, kindly please contact us at: dealwatch_db@securities.com

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