A&O and CC maintain grip on global projects market; debt shortage slows deal flow but infra demand still resilient

Clifford Chance (CC) has topped the global project finance league tables for 2008 by value, according to new research.

Infrastructure Journal's (IJ's) 2008 global rankings of legal advisers on project finance deals show the magic circle firm advised on 47 deals last year, worth $64.5bn (£44.4bn).

CC's deal tally included the two largest transactions of 2008 – the $11bn (£7.7bn) Asia Trans Gas pipeline and the $10bn (£7bn) Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Complex, as well as deals such as the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) project early last year.

The deals mean CC won a 10.7% share of the market by value and was able to knock Allen & Overy (A&O) – which topped the 2007 rankings by both value and volume – into second place. However, A&O continued to take the lion's share of projects mandates by volume, with roles on 87 deals worth $59.9bn (£41.2bn) – almost double CC's total.

The firm's key roles included acting for WestLB on its €1.33bn (£1.18bn) financing of a coal-powered plant in Germany and the $1.52bn (£1.04bn) public-private partnership (PPP) financing for the Virginia Capital Beltway HOT Lanes development in the US.

Other firms to score highly in the value rankings include Linklaters, Baker & McKenzie, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and White & Case. By volume Garrigues, Linklaters and Norton Rose make up the top five alongside CC and A&O.

The IJ research also shows that the volume of deals took a significant fall after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers, with deal volumes dropping from 54 in September to 34 in December. The value of completed deals, meanwhile, fell by 19% in the second half of 2008 to a total of $127.2bn (£87.6bn).

Overall deal count fell by 3% from 2007, dropping from 697 to 677, with the global value of deals falling by 9% from $312bn (£218bn) in 2007 to $284bn (£198bn) in 2008.

Commenting on the market, CC London co-head of global projects, Andrew Grenville, said: "What we are facing is not a real drop in demand-side requirement for infrastructure transactions – the demand is still there and likely to continue to exist. Until September those projects mandated on the finance side proceeded to close. But since then, the lack of liquidity in the debt markets has resulted in a sharp reduction in the number of projects managing to mandate their lender group."

White & Case Europe, Middle East and Africa projects co-head Philip Stopford said: "Last year we closed some significant deals and had a good workflow. Liquidity issues are having an impact and this year will start off slower. We nevertheless expect emerging markets and Eastern Europe where work is starting to pick up to show some resilience."