Khaitan & Co and Japanese law firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Tokyo advised Asian private insurance leader Nippon Life Insurance on the largest ever Indian mutual fund investment. Nippon purchased a Rs 1450 crore ($290m) 26 per cent stake in Indian asset management leader Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) from its parent Reliance Capital. Reliance Capital and RCAM were advised by Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co

Amarchand & Mangaldas partners Vandana Shroff and Ravindra Bandhakavi acted for Reliance and its Rs 85,000 crore ($17bn) asset management arm. This share purchase transaction was the highest valued foreign direct investment in the asset management space in India, according to Amarchand & Mangaldas. The total valuation of RCAM is now pegged at Rs.5,600 crore ($1.1bn), according to Economic Times.

Khaitan & Co partners Zakir Merchant and Vaishali Sharma, along side Anderson Mori & Tomotsune partner Ryo Kotoura, acted for the Japanese buyer on all aspects of the transaction including complex regulatory issues in the Indian mutual fund sector. Khaitan boasts of an extensive experience in advising several leading Japanese companies in their Indian investments.

Earlier this month Khaitan & Co had advised Japanese company Kintetsu on its Indian joint venture, besides previously advising Japanese investors such as Krosaki Harima, Nomura and others. Nippon Life Insurance, also called Nissay, is Japan's largest private life insurer grossing Rs.349,834 crore ($80 bn) in revenue and Rs 12,199 crore ($3bn) in profits last year, according to The Hindu.

RCAM’s valuation from this deal is still a big climb-down from the valuation of Rs 10,000 crore previously set by global investment firm Eton Park when it invested Rs 500 crore for a 5 per cent stake in RCAM weeks before the western sub-prime crisis brought stock markets crashing down, according to VC Circle.