Deals Feed
The latest deals involving Indian companies and law firms.
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co has advised India's largest utility vehicle maker in acquiring Bangalore electric car manufacturer REVA Electric Car Company, which was advised by Trilegal.
Real estate Crawford Bayley sold 350,000 square foot of client Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company (BDMC)'s real estate complex in Parel to Khaitan & Co client Axis Bank for around $170m.
Corporate M&A Khaitan & Co has acted opposite PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) in the sale of Blue Star's 24 per cent-owned ventilation subsidiary to Swedish company Systemair AB.
Litigation
Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe and a UK firm are representing Air India's insurance underwriters in compensating victims of the Air India air disaster, potentially handling claims running to Rs 400 crore ($85m).
Corporate M&A
Crawford Bayley, Luthra & Luthra and Baker & McKenzie and Stephenson Harwood have advised on the $3.7bn takeover of Piramal Healthcare by US pharma major Abbott Laboratories.
Capital Markets
Luthra & Luthra and DLA Piper have won two out of two government disinvestment tenders this week for consultancy Engineers India Ltd (EIL) and the world's largest coal producer Coal India Ltd, defeating firms such as Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners-Clifford Chance, Crawford Bayley and S&R Associates in a competitive tender.
Private equity / VC Young private equity boutique Sand Hill Counsel has closed two private equity (PE) deals in the education sector for US-based venture capital firm Foundation Capital opposite AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Wadia Ghandy.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas is advising ICICI Bank on its takeover of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR), whose promoter Pravin Kumar Tayal is represented by Paras Kuhad Associates, in a stock deal that envisages a share exchange ratio of 25 ICICI shares for 118 BoR shares.
Capital Markets Amarchand Mangaldas, Crawford Bayley and Luthra & Luthra, and young firms Axon Partners LLP, Link Legal and S&R Associates, are bidding for the role of legal advisor to the government in the disinvestment of state-owned Engineers India Limited (EIL) which is set to happen through a follow-on public offer in July.
Corporate M&A Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Trilegal have advised Godrej Consumer on its buy-out of Sara Lee Corporation's stake in the companies' Indian joint venture (JV) for €185m ($234m).
Corporate M&A Dewey & LeBoeuf and Linklaters have respectively advised India's largest mining company Vedanta Resources in its agreement to acquire zinc assets from mining giant Anglo American for $1.34bn in order to make it the world's largest zinc producer and to create a sizeable presence in Europe and Africa.
Litigation Naik Paranjpe and Company led by managing partner Ameet Naik has won a favourable order for clients Filmkraft and Adlabs against a suit filed in a munsif court that sought to restrain the release of the movie Kites.
Corporate M&A Luthra & Luthra has acted for the State Bank of India led consortium of 22 banks and financial institutions for a $2.08 billion syndicated rupee debt deal for a Tata Steel project at Jamshedpur.
Projects Mumbai projects boutique India Law Services (ILS) has advised the lender consortium of bankers in three project finance transactions opposite Trilegal, one in-house counsel and Delhi-based Hammurabi & Solomon acting for the borrower companies.
Private equity / VC AZB & Partners and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have reprised their joint roles for private equity house KKR in its Rs 750 crore ($166m) investment in Amarchand Mangaldas-advised Dalmia Cement.
Corporate M&A Delhi firm LexCounsel has advised on a joint venture (JV) agreement between public listed education service provider Educomp Solutions Limited (ESL) and Lavasa Corporation to set up four educational institutes to benefit from investment opportunities in the booming education sector.
Projects Luthra & Luthra has acted for an IDBI-led consortium of banks and financial institutions in the financing of $50m coal mine project of GVK Coal (Tokisud) Company in Jharkhand.
Finance
Bristol-headquartered TLT has bagged the advice for a syndicate of Indian banks on a $110m dollar loan to Indus Gas alongside Amarchand Mangaldas, with the regional UK firm benefiting from its niche banking pitch.
Private equity / VC Universal Legal has advised two microfinance institutions in Chennai and Hyderabad on private equity capital raisings with AZB & Partners and Trilegal acting for the investor companies.
Projects Luthra & Luthra advised a consortium of 10 banks and financial institutions led by Axis Bank in the project financing of a $585m power project in the Chandrapur District of Maharashtra, constructed by GMR Energy subsidiary EEL.
Capital Markets
Amarchand Mangaldas, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Talwar Thakore & Associates and its best friend Linklaters are advising India's second largest power sector company Essar Energy in its plans to raise $2.5bn (Rs 11,000 crores) in a maiden listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Finance
J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Trilegal have completed mobile phone operator Aircel's Rs 2,000 crore ($449m) commercial paper fundraising to part-finance the telecom operator's upcoming 3G licence auction.
Capital Markets
Amarchand Mangaldas picked up almost one third of 33 initial public offering (IPO) mandates in the first quarter of 2010, while Crawford Bayley, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Luthra & Luthra and Khaitan & Co together bagged another 40 per cent of instructions.
Capital Markets Kaden Boriss Legal LLP has bid for the due diligence and documentation work in the privatisation of Kuwait Airways Company along with consortium members Al Oula Law and Cox Padmore Skolnik & Shakarchy on 10 April in Kuwait.
Corporate M&A
AZB & Partners has shot to the top of the mergermarket M&A league table by acting on seven out of eight of the largest M&A deals in the first three months of 2010. Desai & Diwanji and Amarchand Mangaldas respectively came in at second and third place by number of deals done.
Private equity / VC Khaitan & Co scooped another Blackstone mandate in the private equity house's Rs 225 crore ($51m) investment in newspaper publisher Jagran Media, which was advised by Luthra & Luthra. Simpson Thacher was the international legal counsel to Blackstone.
Projects Project finance specialist India Law Services (ILS) has advised a consortium of bankers in two project financing transactions of Nagapattinam Energy and Caddie Hotels in the last week of March.
Corporate M&A
Allen & Overy (A&O) and Indian best friend firm Trilegal have scooped the mandated lead arranger mandate on the closing Bharti Airtel – Zain $9bn merger, alongside AZB & Partners, Herbert Smith and Linklaters.
Corporate M&A Vaish Associates has advised longstanding clients Religare in the acquisition of healthcare solutions business of Bangalore-based Sobha Renaissance Information Technology (SRIT) for an undisclosed amount.
Private equity / VC Induslaw and Amarchand Mangaldas represented three funds that investing $10m into Azure Power's solar power technology project.
Private equity / VC Desai & Diwanji has acted as sole legal adviser on Rs 93.4 crores ($20m) investment by Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets Fund III (TSEMF III) in Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services for a 5.3 per cent stake in the company.
Corporate M&A
SN Gupta & Co has kick-started its sports practice by advising on the $333m (Rs 1,533 crore) buy of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) new Kochi team by the Rendezvous Sports World consortium.
Private equity / VC
Davis Polk, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Lexygen and a raft of overseas firms have advised on the Morgan Stanley-led consortium's $425m (Rs 1,900 crore) investment in Indian power company Asian Genco.
Corporate M&A Naveen Goel Law Offices and Olswang have closed the Rs 250 crore contract negotiations for UK broadcaster SIS Live, which bid for the broadcasting rights to the 2010 Commomwealth Games with Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan and Prasar Bharati.
Corporate M&A DSK Legal, India Law Alliance and P&A Associates have advised Zicom Electronic Security Systems on restructuring and transferring of business units for Rs 225 crore ($49m) to Schneider Electric.
Corporate M&A
Luthra & Luthra has advised Abbott Laboratories in its 20 per cent open offer of the Indian subsidiary of Solvay Pharmaceuticals as part of the €5.2bn global acquisition of the Belgium-based pharma company.
Private equity / VC Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai office and AZB & Partners Delhi have advised on Goldman Sachs's private equity arm $115m investment in conglomerate Max India.
Private equity / VC Nishith Desai Associates and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have acted for Orbit Corporation and the investors respectively in a Rs 165 crore private equity (PE) investment in Orbit for a township development.
Corporate M&A Khaitan & Co is the domestic counsel for Mahindra Forgings Limited and Jones Day Singapore the international legal advisors to the qualified institutional placement (QIP) filed by Mahindra & Mahindra owned forging and auto component company.
Litigation Naik and Naik has won for Anil Ambani owned Reliance MediaWorks against Ocher Studios, which is promoted by the family of South India film star Rajnikanth, forbidding the studio to create third party rights in the film 'Sultan – The Warrior' under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.
Corporate M&A Induslaw has acted as sole advisor to education provider Educomp Solutions, which acquired Studyplaces.com from Zaptive Internet Services.
Private equity / VC Desai & Diwanji and Rajani Associates have advised Motilal Oswal Private Equity Advisers on its Rs 40 crore investment in automobile component maker Minda Industries.
Corporate M&A
AZB & Partners has been instructed on Bharti Airtel's $10.7bn bid for the African business of Kuwaiti telecoms group Zain, with Herbert Smith and Linklaters scoring the international advisory mandates for the Indian company's third attempt to enter the continent.
Litigation M Dhruva & Partners, which spun out of J Sagar Associates earlier this month, has acted on its first independent litigation matter opposite Crawford Bayley, directing the arrest of a ship on behalf of its Hong Kong-based client Star Matrix.
Corporate M&A ALMT Legal in Bangalore and Malaysian law firm Zuraidah Naziha & Fadly advised Indian developer Davanam Constructions and Ascenteus Holdings of Malaysia in their $350m joint venture hotel project.
Projects FoxMandal Little has acted as lender's counsel on the Rs 2224 crores ($515mn) ONGC Tripura Power Company project finance documentation acting for Power Finance Corporation.
The firm was instructed in September 2009, with Delhi senior partner B N Banerjee, and senior associate Rajesh Sehgal and associate Milli Chatterjee leading the team.
According to a press release from the firm, no other law firms were involved in the transaction.
Sehgal said in the release: "It was challenging, since ONGC being a Navratna company is on the Board of the OTPC. For us it was the first time we had done a deal with ONGC and the captive natural gas based power stations interconnected with the power project."
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) received Rs 2,224 crore in debt funding from Power Finance Corp (PFC) for its proposed 700 MW power plant at Tripura.
Corporate M&A Desai & Diwanji and Tatva Legal, with Davis Polk & Wardwell and Richards Butler advised on private equity house Quadrangle Capital and others' $300m investment in India's second largest operator of telecoms towers Tower Vision India.
Litigation
A divison bench of the Delhi High Court has widened across India its April 2009 judgment that service tax on commercial rentals is ultra vires the Finance Act, in a victory for law firm LexCounsel.
Projects
Luthra & Luthra has closed the Rs 2400 crores ($521m) GVK Power (Goindwalsahib) project finance fundraising acting for IDBI Bank and a consortium of 12 others as lender's counsel.
Luthra & Luthra's projects team was led by Mumbai partner Vijaya Rao (pictured), assisted by managing associate Bikash Jhawar, and associates Pulkit Sharma and Sneha Jha.
Corporate M&A Khaitan & Co and Naik Naik & Co have advised multiplex owner INOX Leisure in acquiring a 43.28 per cent stake of the promoter group of rival multiplex chain Fame India for Rs 66.34 crore.
Private equity / VC
Khaitan & Co has picked up the Indian mandate to advise private equity group Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) on the $440m purchase of legal process outsourcing company CPA Global, alongside a raft of international firms.
Capital Markets Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai is acting for Oberoi Realty while AZB & Partners Mumbai and Shearman & Sterling Singapore are acting for the underwriters in the Rs 1,500 crore ($325m) initial public offering (IPO) of the Mumbai real estate company, according to the draft prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 18 January 2010.
The book-running lead managers are Kotak Mahindra, Enam Securities, JP Morgan India and Morgan Stanley India.
Amarchand, Luthra & Luthra and Khaitan & Co were leading in Legally India's Q3 2009-10 IPO rankings.
Corporate M&A
Mumbai firm Gagrats and Link Legal have advised on the joint venture (JV) between Jet Airways and GMR Hyderabad International Airport and Malaysian Aerospace Engineering.
Private equity / VC
Argus Partners and Nishith Desai Associates have advised on the Rs 200 crore ($43m) sale of Ravin Cables to an Italian cable manufacturer, while ALMT Legal has scored its first mandate for a Reliance fund, which was one of Ravin's shareholders.
Capital Markets
Delhi start-up Axon Partners has landed a role next to Crawford Bayley and Linklaters on Jaiprakash Power Venture's surprise $200m (Rs 920 crore) convertible bond issue.
Private equity / VC
Mumbai boutique firm Sand Hill Counsel and the Bangalore offices of Induslaw Advocates and Nishith Desai & Associates (NDA) have assisted IT customer support services provider iYogi in raising $15m of venture capital (VC) funding to expand its team of global tech experts.
Capital Markets
Crawford Bayley has picked up the latest Government disinvestment mandate for India's single largest iron ore producer and exporter National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), following Amarchand Mangaldas, Fox Mandal Little and Luthra & Luthra bagging the three other disinvestments of the past four months.
Finance
Phoenix Legal has acted on a Rs 308m ($6.5m) microfinance securitisation of 42,000 micro-loans for IFMR Capital.
Real estate
Khaitan & Co and Wadhwa Group's in-house counsel have closed Mumbai's largest land deal of the year, in the 18.18-acre land purchase in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai from Hindustan Composites (HCL) for Rs 571 crore ($125m).
Capital Markets
Corporate M&A
Wadia Ghandy Mumbai and Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi have helped GTL Infrastructure in acquiring Aircel's telecom tower business in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 8,400 crore ($1.84bn).
Corporate M&A
Desai & Diwanji acted on 24 M&A deals in the 2009 calendar year, placing it at the top of data provider mergermarket's M&A league table by volume. Amarchand Mangaldas topped the table by value, having advised on M&A deals worth $6.4bn in 2009, while Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners also gave a strong showing.
Capital Markets
In December 2009 Luthra & Luthra slipped past Khaitan & Co into second place in the initial public offering (IPO) league tables after acting on three IPOs with Khaitan bagging two instructions. Crawford Bayley took three deals and drew level with AZB & Partners as the fourth busiest Indian IPO firm, while Amarchand Mangaldas built up its lead with five mandates.
Private equity / VC
Bangalore private equity (PE) boutique Lexygen and the Mumbai and Gurgaon offices of Vaish Associates have acted in the Rs 22.5 crore ($4.5m) investment by Zephyr Peacock India Fund in a telecom service company called Metro Wireless Engineering India (Metro Telworks).