Deals
Corporate M&A AZB & Partners, S&R Associates and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have advised Dutch bank Rabobank in its divestment of 11 per cent equity in Yes Bank for around Rs 980 crore ($210m) to comply with the RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India) regulation as a prerequisite to attain a full commercial banking license in India.
Private equity / VC Amarchand Mangaldas has acted for private equity fund Warburg Pincus in its investment of Rs 392 crore ($85m) in India's largest diagnostics laboratory chain Metropolis Health Care, which was advised by Desai & Diwanji.
Litigation
Economic Laws Practice (ELP) and Naik Paranjpe & Co have respectively represented Bollywood film studios PVR Pictures and Reliance Big Entertainment in filing a writ petition to challenge the imposition of service tax on copyright transfers, which was introduced by the Finance Act 2010 on 1 July 2010.
Corporate M&A
Bharucha & Partners with Norton Rose and Talwar Thakore & Associates (TTA) with best friend Linklaters are advising HSBC on its takeover of the Indian retail and commercial banking business of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for a premium of Rs 444 crore ($95m) over the net asset value of the business.
Capital Markets
Amarchand Mangaldas acted on more than half of the total number of Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) in Legally India's QIP League Table of the 2009-2010 fiscal year. AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co were the second-busiest followed by J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Crawford Bayley and S&R Associates amongst domestic firms.
International firm Jones Day bagged the maximum QIPs out of foreign law firms acting for the book running lead managers while Linklaters, Dorsey & Whitney and Clifford Chance also won mandates on a significant numbers of fundraisings.
Corporate M&A AZB & Partners has completed two deals for its long-standing client International Finance Corporation (IFC), which bought a $25m share in power projects company Bhilwara Energy Limited and $5m in Applied Solar Technologies.
Capital Markets AZB & Partners, Luthra & Luthra and Jones Day have advised power generation company Ind-Barath Power Infra on its initial public offering (IPO) of equity shares through which the company hopes to raise Rs 1153 crores.
Projects Link Legal has advised a GMR-Malaysia Airports consortium on winning the contract to build and expand the Male Maldives airport for around $300m (Rs 1,390 crore).
Litigation
IPL (Indian Premier League) broadcasters Sony Entertainment Television yesterday filed a Rs 147 crore recovery suit in the Bombay High Court through Luthra & Luthra against the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and its media rights licensee World Sports Group (WSG).
Private equity / VC Khaitan & Co has advised on the setting up of two domestic venture capital (VC) funds iPro Capital Private Equity Trust and Subhkam Growth Fund, with each planning to raise approximately Rs 100 crores in various sectors under their maiden schemes.
Litigation
Naik Paranjpe & Co has successfully restrained the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) from preventing the release of the film Raavan in Karnataka after it won a rare favourable interim order from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for clients Reliance Big Entertainment yesterday evening.
Corporate M&A
AZB & Partners was the busiest Indian M&A firm in the months of April and May advising on a total of seven takeovers, followed by Trilegal and Amarchand Mangaldas but foreign firms picked up by far the greatest slice of Indian M&A mega-value deals benefiting from increasing Indian outbound activity.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas Bangalore advised Kalanithi Maran on his Rs 740 crore purchase of Link Legal-advised low-cost carrier SpiceJet from two sellers, which were represented by AZB Mumbai and Naveen Goel Law Offices in Delhi.
Litigation Heinz India led by Lall Lahiri Salhotra (LLS) has won a trademark infringement case against PepsiCo, which was advised by Singh & Singh Advocates before the Delhi High Court over the use of Pepsi's trademarked tagline, "Rehydrate, Replenish and Recharge".
Capital Markets
Amarchand Mangaldas was the busiest IPO law firm in Legally India's 2009-10 financial year (FY) league table by far but the newer practices Luthra & Luthra, S&R Associates, AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co have managed to keep pace in bank advisory work bagging nearly as many instructions.
Litigation Bhasin & Co managing partner Lalit Bhasin has represented the National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) in the Delhi High Court, which has ordered an injunction of the Air India employees' strike solving the two-day deadlock.