capital markets
The Indian capital markets have a new international king, at least going by law firms and volumes of initial public offerings (IPO), and it’s Sidley Austin, in a league table dominated by a completely new list of firm names after a swathe of some big-name partner moves in the past years.
Khaitan & Co has filed more IPO drafts than any other firm in 2017 just ahead of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, in a market where downward pricing pressures have made it tough across the board.
Patnaik now confirmed to be joining Trilegal...
Jones Day Singapore capital markets partner and India group head Manoj Bhargava and of counsel Ankit Kashyap have both resigned from the firm around a week ago.
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.
Gokul Rajan, currently consultant at Citibank in Mumbai, and Nikhil Naredi, Singapore-based associate at Jones Day, are both set to be joining the new firm that will be started by Amarchand Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff, as partners to beef up the capital markets practice.
Axon Partners LLP and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy jointly advised the lead book runners and lead managers in Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV issuing $1bn and €750m of notes, with Allen & Overy (A&O) advised Bharti Airtel and the Dutch issue on Dutch and US laws.
Axon co-founding partner Abhimanyu Bhandari with associates Kajal Bhimani and Prashant Kumar advised on Indian law with Milbank Singapore partner Naomi Ishikawa with senior associate Adrian Yeo and associate Leroy Langeveld.
A&O Hong Kong partner Amit Singh with associates Garrick Merlo and Vivian Chow acted for the issuer.
The book runners were Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan Securities PLC and Bank of America-Merril Lynch, reported Mint and others.
The same firms had also acted on Bharti's Dutch $1bn dollar bond issue one year ago, followed by a €750m bond in December 2013.
AZB & Partners Delhi partner and capital markets practice head Meera Singh has resigned the firm, according to Bar & Bench. Singh told the website that she was leaving for personal reasons and would continue to work flexibly with the firm on individual assignments.
Delhi managing partner Ajay Bahl also confirmed her move, saying that she would continue to be a "valued colleague and a dear friend" to him and others at the firm. She had been at Bahl's firm since 2001, having worked at New Delhi Law Offices for seven years after graduating from Campus Law Centre. [Bar & Bench]
Yesterday Legally India reported that Khaitan & Co Mumbai capital markets partner Vibhava Sawant had left the firm for personal reasons, and last year, Luthra capital markets head Madhurima Mukherjee left the firm.
Khaitan & Co Mumbai capital markets partner of six years Vibhava Sawant left the firm on 11 April to relocate to Abu Dhabi to be with family.
Exclusive: Sudhir Bassi, Morgan Stanley managing director and head of corporate finance based in Mumbai, is set to join Khaitan & Co as a partner-level member of its capital markets practice.
LI-Mint exclusive: Law firms saw a slump in earnings from their capital markets business in the year that ended March. Many that had invested heavily in the practice during the boom years adopted various strategies to cope with the decline.
Amarchand Mangaldas, Latham & Watkins and Middle East law firm Al Tamimi & Company have advised India’s largest private sector bank ICICI Bank on issuing $1bn (Rs 4,470 crore) of international bonds through five-and-a-half year fixed rate notes.
The winner doesn’t take it all anymore in the capital markets field. Read Legally India’s full analysis of the main players and contenders in the equity and debt capital markets.
ALMT Legal, Khaitan & Co and Crawford Bayley have grabbed the maximum number of rights issue mandates in the financial year (FY) 2010-2011.
DLA Piper has promoted 1997 NLSIU Bangalore graduate and foreign law firm veteran Biswajit Chatterjee to its partnership in Singapore.
There is little doubt that one firm still rules the capital markets roost. However, others are starting to worry its lead in the practice area, as evidenced by Legally India’s exclusive analysis this week.
Exclusive: Amarchand Mangaldas has lost ground in its lead over Luthra & Luthra and surprise performer AZB & Partners in the initial public offering (IPO) league tables for the 2010-11 financial year, while DLA Piper came from nowhere to top the rankings of foreign firms ahead of Dorsey & Whitney and Jones Day.
Exclusive: Against a background of slowing markets in qualified institutional placements (QIPs), Amarchand Mangaldas has retained a strong lead in Legally India’s QIP league table for the 2010-2011 fiscal despite its deal volume dropping by half, while Luthra & Luthra and Crawford Bayley scaled ahead of Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners.
Luthra & Luthra has promoted 2010 Clifford Chance hire and managing associate Indraneel Basu Majumdar to partner in capital markets, swelling the department’s ranks to three non-equity partners and aiming to build up a debt capital markets practice.
Exclusive: Link Legal has absorbed top-ranked mid-market capital markets boutique Zenith India Lawyers, with erstwhile Zenith managing partner Raj Rani Bhalla relocating from Gurgaon to the young Mumbai office to increase growth.