OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2008. Mergermarket, a leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) intelligence company, published the league tables of legal advisers in M&A transactions worldwise, reported the press-centre of Sorainen.

Sorainen M&A team ranked No. 4-7 by deal volume and No. 8 by deal value in the league tables of legal advisers in M&A transactions within the whole CEE region in the 1Q of year 2008. Sorainen was also ranked No. 9 in CEE by deal volume for the whole year 2007.

Such outstanding performance of a regional law firm is unprecedented because the larger Central and Eastern European markets are typically dominated by big international law firms. Sorainen is also the only Baltic law firm which has been ranked so high by Mergermarket.

Mergermarket describes the global M&A market as something of a “death rattle” in the first quarter of 2008 – referring to the general cyclical downturn of the markets. However, Sorainen M&A team has been quite busy during the beginning of 2008. “On one hand, the Baltic markets are also affected by the global credit crunch. On the other hand, the impact on the M&A activities in the Baltics is smaller than in US and Western Europe as the transactions are relatively smaller here. We see also that the shareholders have less illusions about the value of their firm and are thus more willing to sell,” said Toomas Prangli, Sorainen partner heading its Pan-Baltic M&A Team.

Sorainen has advised in more than 500 M&A transactions to date and the growth of this practisc area is continuing. Most recently, Sorainen M&A team has assisted Coopernic Alliance in acquisition of IKI retail chain (UAB Palink, operating in Lithuania and Latvia), Vienna Insurance Group in acquisition of Seesam Life Insurance SE (operating in all Baltic States) and Allied Irish Banks in acquisition AmCredit business in all Baltic States. According to financial results of 2007, M&A and private equity was the fastest growing practice area of Sorainen and almost doubled compared to the previous year.

Sorainen is an integrated regional M&A and business law firm providing high-quality legal services to foreign investors as well as local businesses in the Baltics and Belarus. Since its establishment in 1995, the firm has expanded organically from Tallinn to Riga, Vilnius and Minsk and is now the leading law firm in the region with a total of more than 100 lawyers. Sorainen is the first law firm in the Baltics and in Belarus and one of only a few in the Nordic countries where a quality management system has been implemented and certified under ISO 9001:2000 standards.