According to the 2006 Asia and Australasia legal adviser tables, released this week, Allens has in the past year taken 14.8 per cent of the market share in Asia and Australasia, an increase of 2.8 per cent on its result last year. This increase reflects the firm’s success in the small to medium deal sector in what it called a “softening market”.

“I was pleased by our penetration of the small to medium-sized deal market of up to US$100 million (A$134 million), particularly in the oil and gas area, as that was where the opportunities lay in 2005,” said Phillip Cornwell, partner and project finance practice group leader.

Allens was in the past year credited with 32 deals, compared with Freehills’ 25 and Mallesons Stephen Jaques’ 24. According to Dealogic’s tables at the end of 2004, Allens topped Asia Pacific work that year as well. Those tables show Allens as completing 27 deals with apportioned value of more than US$5 billion. Freehills completed 18 deals worth US$2.7 billion in that year.

Mallesons almost doubled the total project amount achieved by its closest competitor in project finance in the first part of last year, however, according to the Dealogic tables released in October last year. The firm placed number one in both the Asia Pacific and Australasian tables in October 2005, with 14 per cent of the market share. It was ranked eighth globally. Freehills was the closest competitor in both the Asia Pacific and Australasian tables, with 8 per cent of market share.

Speaking about Allens’ success in the most recent tables, Cornwell said “it was great to see our younger partners strongly represented in the deal flow, reflecting the depth in our team. I thank all the partners and staff in our project finance group for their work in what was a softer year for the sector”.

The Dealogic survey found global project finance volume fell slightly to US$171.5 billion in 2005 (A$228 billion), with South-East Asian volume down to US$17.4 billion (A$23 billion).

Deals advised by Allens during the year included the Mitcham-Frankston Tollway in Victoria and the acquisition of a stake in the Moran Oilfield in PNG.

Cornwell said 2006 was again likely to feature the resources and energy sectors. “I think there’s a good possibility that the project financings associated with the PNG gas pipeline will be launched this year. We are also expecting quite a lot of activity in all aspects of the energy field, including renewable and gas-fired power projects,” he said.