Law firms

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) advised ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Bank on Rs 60,568 million initial public offer. S&R Associates and Davis Polk & Wardwell advised the lead managers to the issue: DSP Merrill Lynch, ICICI Securities, CLSA India, Deutsche Equities India, Edelweiss Financial Services, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), IIFL, JM Financial Institutional Securities, SBI Capital Markets and UBS Securities India.

AZB & Partners Mumbai has promoted Harsh Maggon and Sugandha Asthana to its partnership, according to a press release.

Legasis Partners advised deals and discounts website Nearbuy in raising Rs 15 crore ($2.25m) from non-banking financial company Blacksoil which was advised by IndusLaw.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has backtracked on its earlier full-throated support of liberalisation of the legal market in a six-page letter, saying that it had encountered “strong opposition” from state bar councils and was therefore withdrawing its earlier draft rules to allow foreign lawyers.

PDS Legal won relief from entry tax, for e-commerce major Flipkart’s logistics arm Instakart, in the Patna high court.

The Indian Corporate Counsel Association (ICCA) has produced draft of a Foreign Legal Practitioners (Regulation of Practice) Bill 2016, which it will present at today’s meeting with ministries and stakeholders at 17:30 in Delhi.

The Indian National Bar Association (INBA), which released a report last week calling for the entry of foreign law firms this year, has now also been invited to also meet the Government in tomorrow’s talks on legal market liberalisation.

"Third-party administrator Vidal Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd Monday said Ambit Pragma Ventures Pvt. Ltd, the private equity arm of Ambit Holdings Pvt. Ltd, has invested about $10 million in the firm to buy a significant minority stake,” reported Mint.

Trilegal has hired J Sagar Associates (JSA) Delhi principal associate Gautam Shahi as a counsel to specialise in competition and litigation, reported VCCircle, relying on two unnamed sources.

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) has been accused by service tax authorities of forum shopping and misleading the the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) by allegedly not disclosing the existence of a live Supreme Court case for the same client on the same issues.

Universal Legal advised Carlyle-backed Newgen KnowledgeWorks on acquiring a majority stake in Pune-based digital learning and software company Exult Infosolutions which was advised by LegaLogic Consulting.

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has hired 2005-ILS Pune graduate Parveet Singh Gandoak to the firm as a counsel in Singapore from Debevoise & Plimpton, where he had worked between 2011 and 2016 as an associate.

The Indian National Bar Association (INBA) has weighed into the legal market liberalisation debate, coming up with a proposal that would see foreign law firms entering by the end of this year, with “complete liberalisation” proposed to happen by the end of 2019.

"PayU Global, the digital payments provider owned by South Africa’s Naspers Group, will buy rival Citrus Pay for $130 million in an all-cash deal. PayU India will have more than 30 million customers post the acquisition of Citrus Pay. The company forecast it will process an estimated 150 million transactions, worth $4.2 billion, in 2016. The deal, once concluded, is expected to provide an attractive exit to Citrus Pay’s investors—Ascent Capital, Beenos and Sequoia Capital. PayU confirmed that the early investors will exit but declined to disclose details,” reported Mint.

Argus Partners has hired R Vedasagar as a partner in Bangalore, focusing on banking and finance from 1 October.

Argus Partners promoted Siladitya Chatterjee as a partner in its corporate practice in Delhi, effective 1 September 2016.