Deals Feed
The latest deals involving Indian companies and law firms.
Private equity / VC
Kolkata Amarchand spin-off Argus Partners and AZB & Partners have scooped roles on the $124m private equity placement and open offer by Bain Capital in coal tar manufacturer Himadri Chemicals & Industries.
Corporate M&A
Crawford Bayley and Khaitan & Co have advised on the $400m (Rs 1,900 crore) takeover of listed Chennai pharmaceutical company Orchid Chemical & Pharmaceutical by US pharma major Hospira.
Capital Markets
In November Amarchand Mangaldas' Bangalore office bagged a role in four out of six initial public offerings (IPOs), and together with one instruction from Delhi has extended its lead in the top spot of the IPO league tables over Khaitan & Co, Luthra & Luthra and AZB & Partners.
Corporate M&A
J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Trilegal have represented Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) and Heineken International respectively on brokering the agreement to allow United Breweries (UB) to make Heineken brand beer in India.
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co Bangalore and local boutique Menon Associates have advised on the MindTree acquisition of US handset maker Kyocera Wireless' Indian arm for Rs 29 crores ($6m) and further consideration linked to future revenues.
Capital Markets
Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners capital markets teams have sewn up Tata Steel's $493m (Rs 2,550 crore) convertible bond swap, marking the third joint instruction for the firms on similar deals in the past half-year.
Capital Markets
The Delhi offices of Amarchand Mangaldas and Luthra & Luthra have advised Dish TV in issuing GDRs (Global Depository Receipts) worth Rs. 465 crores ($100m) to Apollo Management for an 11 per cent stake in the company.
Corporate M&A
Luthra & Luthra's and Kochhar & Co's Delhi offices have advised on the 69 per cent acquisition of NDTV Lifestyle by US company Scripps Networks Interactive for Rs 254.5 crores ($55m).
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai has advised Aditya Birla Group in the series of mergers between Grasim Industries, Samruddhi Cements and UltraTech Cements, creating India's largest and the world's tenth largest cement manufacturer.
Corporate M&A
J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Luthra & Luthra co-ordinated the Rs 62.2 crore ($13.5m) cash and equity acquisition of DLF-owned DT Cinemas chain by entertainment chain PVR.
Private equity / VC
Bharucha & Partners and Khaitan & Co have led on The Blackstone Group's Rs 300 crore ($64m) investment in logistics company Gateway Rail Freight.
Litigation
A Supreme Court judge on the Ambani brothers' gas supply dispute has stepped down, fearing a conflict of interest because of his daughter recently joining AZB & Partners in Bangalore as a partner.
Private equity / VC
Desai & Diwanji, DSK Legal and Wadia Ghandy have triple-teamed on the $100m private equity investment into Hyderabad power company Ind-Barath Power Infra.
Capital Markets
Luthra & Luthra, AZB & Partners and S&R Associates have pushed up the IPO league tables this October, as J Sagar Associates (JSA) and capital markets specialist firm JurisPrudent Consulting Partners make their entry into the rankings.
Private equity / VC
SN Gupta & Co and one-year-old start-up India Legal have advised on Duet India Hotels' Rs 120 crore ($26m) fund investment in a Hyderabad hotel project with L&T Phoenix Infoparks.
Private equity / VC
Thakker & Thakker and venture capital (VC) boutique law firms Sand Hill Counsel and Menon Associates have advised on the series A investment into a Hyderabad mobile TV start-up, giving several angel investors a partial exit.
Private equity / VC
Delhi firm LexCounsel has advised the LeapStart Trust in setting up a Rs 50 crore ($11m) close-ended venture capital fund, that aims to capitalise on the resurgent market opportunities in India in various sectors.
Projects
Luthra & Luthra has closed two project finance deals out of Delhi and Mumbai this week, acting on the Rs 1,497 crores ($325m) Gujarat road development project and the Rs 4,000 crore ($850m) syndicated term loan for Cairn India to develop oil fields.
Capital Markets
Legally India research has revealed Amarchand Mangaldas as the top IPO dealmaker of this financial year so far, while Khaitan & Co and Luthra & Luthra are in close contest for the runner-up spot. International and domestic firms are competing in a tightly bunched mid-field of the ranking.
Corporate M&A
For the first time this year, Desai & Diwanji and Khaitan & Co are leading the third quarter Indian M&A rankings both by value and volume of deals, pushing Amarchand Mangaldas two places down mergermarket's value league table compared to three months ago.
Capital Markets
Amarchand Mangaldas has acted on 70 per cent of qualified institutional placements (QIPs) in the first half of this financial year, with international firms, AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Luthra & Luthra, S & R Associates and Crawford Bayley mopping up the rest.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra have benefited the most from the dash to hit the markets by month-end, as 16 companies filed draft initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses in the last two weeks.
Corporate M&A
AZB Mumbai partner Shuva Mandal led the team for DSP Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, which were mandated by the company for the share sale.
Corporate M&A
AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day's Hong Kong office have advised Jai Balaji Industries on its proposed Rs 450 crore ($94m) qualified institutional placement (QIP), which is yet to be announced.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co. and Linklaters Singapore are working to help Reliance Infratel on its initial public offering (IPO), which looks to raise around US$ 1 billion (Rs. 5000 crore) from the market.
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co has advised on the purchase of Sri Lankan joint-venture (JV) assets, working with two of Sri Lanka's oldest law firms.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques have advised on the Macqaurie-SBI Infrastructure Fund, which is slated to be the biggest fund investing in the Indian infrastructure sector to date.
Corporate M&A
Corporate M&A
J Sagar Associates (JSA) and S&R Associates have advised Pipavav Shipyard on its proposed initial public offering (IPO) of up to Rs 5.5bn ($110m).
Litigation
Kolkata's Khaitan & Partners has filed a criminal complaint against a striking Jet Airways officer for allegedly threatening a Jet pilot for breaking the picket lines last week.
Corporate M&A
Kochhar & Co's Singapore and Delhi offices and AZB & Partners advised news wire Bloomberg and media company UTV on their joint venture to launch a new co-branded Indian business TV channel.
Corporate M&A
Desai & Diwanji has scored the first instruction for the merged Tata Quippo towers business, after having originally advised Quippo Telecom on its joint venture (JV) with Tata Teleservices, which was advised by AZB & Partners.
Corporate M&A
Vaish & Associates is advising the promoter group and the merchant bankers in the Rs 75 crore initial public offering (IPO) of Delhi-based alcohol beverage company Globus Spirits.
Corporate M&A
Luthra & Luthra is advising ArcelorMittal on its Rs 500 crore ($103m) stake acquisition in Mumbai-based Steel company Uttam Galva Steels.
Corporate M&A
Covington & Burling and Trilegal have co-operated on the IPO of Indian Energy on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), which is only the fourth successful listing this year on the London Stock Exchange-owned smaller market.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas has acted for Wockhardt in selling 10 hospitals for Rs 909 crore ($186m) to Fortis Healthcare, which was advised by Vaish Associates in Mumbai.
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co has benefited as tour operator Cox & Kings overhauled its roster of IPO advisers, dropping J Sagar Associates (JSA), which had advised on the aborted 2008 flotation.
Finance
India's largest mortgage lender Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) has issued India's first ever dual warrants and bonds instrument, which was structured by AZB & Partners, Amarchand Mangaldas and Linklaters Singapore to raise Rs 4000 crore ($822m) for the company.
Litigation
Khaitan & Co has won a temporary victory against alleged Bollywood plagiarism in the Calcutta High Court. The firm is representing movie producer Vipul Shah against Sri Venkatesh Films over the currently screening Bengali movie Poran Jay Joliya Re, which Shah alleges is a scene-by-scene "copy-paste" of his film Namastey London.
Corporate M&A
A raft of law firms have picked up mandates on the four latest initial public offer (IPO) proposals to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), with Amarchand Mangaldas taking two issuer mandates, Luthra & Luthra acting for one company and Rajani Associates for the fourth.
Corporate M&A
AZB, DSK and Trilegal have done well in Asia Pacific private equity deal rankings despite heavily depressed values and volumes this year.
Corporate M&A
Desai & Diwanji and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have sealed Essar Steel's Rs 650 crore ($135m) purchase of Shree Precoated Steels, with JSA facing the "challenging" task of acting as joint counsel to both seller and buyer.
Litigation
Advani & Company is representing the family of India's first H1N1 virus victim against the Pune hospitals it alleges had caused her death.
Litigation
Luthra & Luthra has advised long-standing client NDTV in the Supreme Court against allegations that its so-called BMW hit-and-run case sting operation was in contempt of court and amounted to "trial by media".
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co scored the Mahindra Holidays & Resorts listing in Mumbai, which netted the Mahindra Group around Rs. 275 crore over the past month and to many investors signalled a temporary end to the initial public offering (IPO) drought.
Corporate M&A
Tata Steel has selected an identical roster of firms to advise on its latest fundraising in London, with Amarchand Mangaldas, Talwar Thakore Associates, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy reprising their roles from the monster 2008 Corus acquisition-related rights issue.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day have advised on India's largest initial public offer (IPO) in 18 months for Adani Power's issue, which has so far seen four-fold oversubscription and is hoped to raise between Rs 2,700 and 3,000 crore ($558m to $620m).
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas and Platinum Partners in Mumbai are advising on the Rs 308 crore ($64m) acquisition of a 35 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) asset management arm by Nomura, which marks Platinum's first instruction for the Japanese bank.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas is moving on with its second Government divestment instruction, advising NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) on raising around Rs 1,680 crore through an initial public offering (IPO).
Corporate M&A
Luthra & Luthra and S&R Associates acted as Indian counsel in Indian mining company Sterlite Industries' $1.5bn (Rs 7,200 crore) equity fundraising, with Latham & Watkins and Shearman & Sterling handling the international advice.
Corporate M&A
Clifford Chance's lateral Amarchand Mangaldas hire has reaped rewards, as Rahul Guptan brought the firm the third Indiabulls Group mandate this year, acting for its underwriting bank.
Projects
Luthra & Luthra, India Law Services and Amarchand Mangaldas have leapfrogged to the top of global project finance deal rankings over the last six months, benefiting from Indian project finance deals rising by 158 per cent against the same period last year to almost $32bn (Rs 154,000 crore).
Finance
Clifford Chance has cemented its ties to Air India, acting on the $1bn (Rs 4,900 crore) asset finance loan from JPMorgan Chase, which was advised by Milbank Tweed Hadley McCloy.
Corporate M&A
Kanga & Co Mumbai partner Dhaval Vussonji is leading the team for the original bidder Bharati Shipyard, which already owns a 19.5 per cent stake in Great Offshore.
Corporate M&A
Despite meagre pickings, Desai & Diwanji, Khaitan & Co, AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have topped an M&A league table, together advising on 30 Indian deals worth a total of $9.4bn in the last six months.
Corporate M&A
Platinum Partners has joined the team of legal advisers on the MTN – Bharti Airtel merger talks alongside four other firms on what could be India's largest cross-border deal to date with a value of around $23bn (Rs 110,000 crore).
Corporate M&A
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lex Counsel and Platinum Partners have advised on a $17.5m (Rs 85 crore) joint venture (JV) deal between the UK's Pearson Group and Delhi-based education company Educomp Solutions.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand and US firm Shearman & Sterling jointly advised the Californian venture capital fund Norwest Venture Partners in buying Rs250 crore ($51m) in the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) under new foreign investment rules.
Litigation
Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe has led Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) in its multi-million dollar High Court victory against Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries (RIL).
Corporate M&A
J Sagar and Associates (JSA) and Luthra & Luthra have completed the Rs 1,750 crore ($368m) takeover of mining company Dempo Group by London-listed Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sesa Goa.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand, Ashurst and Luthra & Luthra have restarted their work on the exhumed Oil India initial public offering (IPO), which the government hopes will fill its coffers by up to Rs 2,400 crore ($500m).
Corporate M&A
Vaish Associates Mumbai office is hammering out a health insurance JV between its close client Religare Enterprises and global insurance company Swiss Re.
The Vaish team is being led by partner Bomi Daruwala, assisted by associates Amitjivan Joshi and Arti Narsana.
Swiss Re is understood to be represented by its global in-house team but is due to pick its domestic Indian legal representation soon.
Projects
Luthra & Luthra advised a consortium of banks on their Rs 14,550 crore ($3.1bn) project financing of the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project for Reliance Power.
Reliance handled the transaction entirely with its in-house legal team of seven, led by its head of legal Umesh Mooteri.
Luthra & Luthra Delhi project finance head Sameen Vyas and Mumbai banking head Vijaya Rao (pictured) co-led the team for State Bank of India and a consortium of 11 other lenders.
Litigation
Amarchand is battling on in Punjab & Haryana for telecommunications company Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) in its attempts to sue state-owned telecoms operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) over a Rs 30,000 crore ($6bn) contract.
Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co litigation partner Ritu Bhalla is leading the NSN team, which has today filed another petition against BSNL with the Chandigarh High Court in Punjab & Haryana.