News

"Motilal Oswal Private Equity (MOPE) managed India Business Excellence Fund – II and India Business Excellence Fund – IIA have agreed to invest Rs 100 crore to buy a minority stake in Kolkata based Ganesh Grains. The Kolkata based unlisted firm is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling of branded food staple,” reported the Economic Times.

Tata Sons’ former chairman Cyrus Mistry, who was unexpectedly fired from the organisation on Monday, has reportedly decided to approach the Bombay high court challenging his dismissal, although we understand that no case has been filed yet.

The settlement of arbitration between Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and former Chennai partner Dorothy Thomas have completed today, with the Bombay high court bench of Justice Kathawalla today recording the filing of consent terms.

A Supreme Court bench of justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Ashok Bhushan, last week, on 20 October, extended the deadline for submission of applications for the verification process of lawyers to 30 November 2016, making it clear that it would sanction no further delays.

Amity Delhi has moved to a more transparent and stringent system of attendance for students, but is functioning without an official head after student protests following the suicide of student Sushant Rohilla. Rohilla, who was allegedly harassed by the law school’s administration over attendance issues.

"Emerald Media, a Pan-Asian platform established by leading global investment firm KKR for investing in the media and entertainment sector, acquired a significant minority stake in YuppTV for $50m. YuppTV is one of the world’s leading over-the-top (OTT) video platforms for South Asian content offering live TV, catch-up TV and movies on-demand in 14 languages across the globe,” reported Business Wire.

The Indian Corporate Counsels Association (ICCA) has proposed eight weekly meetings between various stakeholders in the legal services liberalisation discussion, in order to prepare a status report on the points of consensus and disagreement between them.

Link Legal India Law Services has hired AZB & Partners senior associate Ashutosh Narang as an associate partner in its Mumbai banking and finance team.

"Canadian Solar Inc. and China’s Unisun Energy Group bought 49 per cent stakes in solar projects being developed by Suzlon Energy,” reported Mint.

Link Legal India Law Services (LLILS) promoted banking and finance associate partner Anurag Dwivedi to partner.

SC serves notice on state, centre to probe cow vigilantism: “A number of PILs were filed by political leaders and activists in High Courts across the states and in Supreme Court demanding strong action against the cow vigilantes. One such PIL was filed by Congress leader Tehseen S Poonawalla in Supreme Court in August this year.”– Indian Express

Clifford Chance to test applicants with video game: Details not disclosed, but “… the game tests the tenacity and perseverance of potential trainees, as well as how they respond under pressure…  The video game is expected to be rolled out to trainee candidates next year if the trial is a success. It will run alongside the firm’s existing psychometric tests.” – Lawyer2b (requires free registration to read in full)

Sahara tells SC it will deposit Rs 200 cr: “The hearing has been advanced on the request of the Sahara Group after its senior counsel Kapil Sibal made a mention on Thursday before the bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar… Seeking that the hearing be advanced from October 24 to October 21, Mr Sibal told the court that Rs. 200 crore that the Sahara Group was to deposit by October 23 would be deposited on Friday.” –  NDTV

Could the CCI throw a spanner into the plans of Flipkart, Amazon, Ola, Uber and MakeMyTrip? – “The point is not that webcompanies have engaged in unfair practices. On the contrary, in the race for acquiring customers, they have slashed prices to an extent that consumers have never had it so good. Still, the digital business as a whole and some Internet companies have become big enough and important enough to warrant the CCI’s attention. Particularly, if there are more M&As, as is likely. ‘The argument that online business is still nascent and can therefore be ignored may not hold water in every sector. It’s growing very fast and many sectors are touched by it. So, at some point, the CCI may soon look at Internet businesses closely,’ said Avimukt Dar, partner, IndusLaw, a law firm.” – Mint

How lax IP laws fuel an open source-ish part of the Shenzhen economic miracle #MakeInChina: “The shanzhai era in consumer electronics gradually faded as incomes rose and brand-name smartphones became more affordable. But it enforced a culture of knowledge-sharing among manufacturers, wherein no single product design is sacred. Lindtner compares the culture of Shenzhen’s manufacturing ecosystem to the open-source movement among software developers. Much like how programmers will freely share code for others to improve upon, Shenzhen manufacturers now see hardware and product design as something that can be borrowed freely and altered. Success in business comes down to speed and execution, not necessarily originality.” – Quartz

How a court case and circumstances conspired to help MakeMyTrip and Ibibo find each other: “Then, as luck would have it, the service tax case in early January brought Kalra, his team and Ibibo’s co-founder Kashyap together. The two were fighting for the same cause, and against the Director General of Central Excise Intelligence that had forced the online travel firms to pay service tax that it claimed they owed, on risk of arrest. (Indeed, one MakeMyTrip executive was arrested).” - Mint

T&T Law founder and managing partner Rohit Tandon has declared Rs 125 crore in unaccounted income to the tax department, after a raid on his residence and office around 6 October, we have learned from authoritative sources with knowledge of the matter.

"Online travel firm MakeMyTrip Ltd has agreed to buy Ibibo Group’s travel business in India in an all-stock deal, creating the country’s largest online travel firm which, according to a note by Morgan Stanley, is worth $1.8 billion. The deal value wasn’t announced, but the $1.8 billion valuation and the fact that Ibibo’s owners, Naspers and Tencent, end up with a 40% stake in the merged entity, translate into a transaction worth $720 million. Naspers owns a third of Tencent, its most valuable investment.” reported Mint.

The Cauvery dispute is the most intractable of all the river water disputes, did you say? Think again.

MDP & Partners added former Elara Capital global legal head Rakesh Puri, as an associate partner and head of the firm’s banking and capital markets practice.

"Fortis Healthcare has completed the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in Fortis Hospotel Ltd and also acquired compulsorily convertible preference shares issued by Escort Heart Institute and Research Centre,” reported the Economic Times.