BMR Legal
Former BMR Legal Advocates principal Tarun Jain has returned to BMR Legal as a partner after he went independent in 2017, according to the firm’s press release last week.
Sujit Ghosh, the co-founding partner of two best friends of Big 4 consultancies - BMR Legal and most recently Advaita Legal - is set to leave the firm soon, we have learned.
BMR Legal partner Vishal Kalra is set to leave the firm with his team of around 10 lawyers, once again leaving behind founding partner Mukesh Butani as the only partner in the firm.
BMR Legal's best friend consultancy BMR Advisors will lose its corporate tax practice to Deloitte, and its M&A practice most likely to KPMG, reported Business Standard.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas is set to absorb all BMR Legal partners in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore but one - founding partner Mukesh Butani.
BMR Legal Mumbai partner Souvik Ganguly, who had joined the firm in 2014 after two years of running his own law firm Acuity Law, has resigned, Bar & Bench first reported and we have also now confirmed.
"Flipkart Ltd has acquired Jabong through its unit Myntra in a cut-price deal that values the online fashion store at $70 million, moving to preserve its position as India’s No.1 e-commerce marketplace in the face of an onslaught by Amazon India,” reported Mint.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) advised Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corp on its Rs 623.44 crore ($93m) buy of 44.98 per cent stake in Excel Crop Care which was advised by AZB & Partners.
The ex-general counsel (GC) of UTV-founder Ronnie Screwvala’s fund Unilazer Ventures, Archana Rajaram, left the company to go independent this month, now advising the venture capital funds Unilazer Ventures, IDG Ventures and Matrix Partners and others as an independent general counsel.
Link Legal India Law Services advised Russia based investors Ru-Net on their $20m (Rs 134 crores) investment in app-based restaurant chain Faasos which was advised by BMR Legal.
Vodafone has become a shorthand for Indian tax troubles, but in the last year or so, it has won several important high court decisions (though not for lack of resistance from government lawyers).
Advaita Legal advised Berlin based educational television channel Da Vinci on forming a joint venture with Indian digital magazine The Quint which was advised by BMR Legal. The television programme Da Vinci Learning was launched in India on 18 November after the deal was completed.
Advaita principal Satyajit Gupta and associates Saurabh Sharma and Avichal Mathur acted for the Da Vinci Media and Da Vinci Media India.
BMR partner Amit Khansaheb and managing associate Nikhil Sachdeva represented The Quint.
Da Vinci GmbH was cleared for up to Rs 5 crore of FDI, by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in November 2013, to set up a wholly owned subsidiary which would carry out the downlinking and distribution of a non-news and non-current affairs edutainment channel, reported Medianama.
BMR Legal announced the induction of Kaushik Mukherjee, who was earlier a partner at J Sagar & Associates as the second partner based out of the firm’s Mumbai office.
J Sagar Associates (JSA) advised Union Bank of India on its acquisition of 49 per cent shareholding in its joint ventures, Union KBC Asset Management Company (KBC-AMC) and Union KBC Trustee Company (KBC-TC) from KBC Participation Renta. KBC Participation Renta was advised by BMR Legal.
JSA Mumbai partner Dina Wadia, senior associate Manav Raheja and associate Viraj Bathe acted for Union Bank of India.
BMR Legal partner Souvik Ganguly, managing associate Vishruta Kaul and associate Deep Jain acted for KBC Participations Renta which a group company of Luxembourg based KBC Asset Management NV
The acquisition will be complete subject to regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBi) and the Competition Commission of India (CCI). After this acquisition, both Union KBC Asset Management and Union KBC Trustee Company will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of Union Bank of India reported Business Standard.
J Sagar Associates (JSA) Mumbai capital markets partner Kaushik Mukherjee has resigned from the firm to join BMR Legal, reported Bar & Bench.
CORRECTION: The earlier report erroneously stated that Mukherjee would join BMR. Mukherjee has clarified that “the statement that I have accepted an offer with BMR is not correct”. Legally India regrets the error.
JSA managing partner Berjis Desai confirmed to Legally India that Mukherjee had said he would leave JSA but declined to comment further.
Mukherjee was made partner at JSA in 2013, as reported by along with 17 others Legally India.
The 2003 law graduate Mukherjee worked at AZB & Partners for over six years and White & Case London for over two years before joining JSA.
Bertelsmann India Investments did a follow-on investment with Goldman Sachs, Zodius Capital and Norwest Venture Partners in the operator of Indian furniture online shop Pepperfry.com, which saw a $100m financing round, reported Mint and others.
Pepperfry was advised by BMR Legal Bangalore partner Siddharth Nair.
S&R partners Rajat Sethi and Rachael Israel and associate Raya Hazarika acted for Bertelsmann.
Nishith Desai Associates Mumbai M&A practice co-head Simone Reis acted for Goldmans.
Khaitan & Co partner Siddharth Shah, associate partner Surbhi Kejriwal, senior associate Abhiraj Krishna and associate Aayush Tainwala acted for Zodius. They were assisted by partner Bijal Ajinkya and senior associate Aditi Mukundan on tax issues.
Can your accountant also assist you on drafting a joint venture agreement? Or is this work best left to a lawyer to check for compliance with various rules and legislation? And what happens when one company drops a nasty legal notice on the former joint venture partner? Is when things get contentious and litigious the line where only a lawyer can step in and take care of business?
The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) will complain to the Bar Council of Delhi in the coming week against PDS Legal, Advaita Legal and other Indian law firms that are best friends with accountancy firms, as a follow-up to its recent complaints in the council against the Big Four consultancies E&Y, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte for their alleged unauthorized practice of law.