Projects

Vaish Associates Advocates has advised wind turbine manufacturer Enercon for the supply of wind turbines and associated facilities worth $198m to CLP India for the development of two greenfield energy projects in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.

India Law Services (ILS) has acted as lenders' legal counsel on three external commercial borrowings (ECB) and loan structurings of Reliance Power worth around $50m of for the second phase development of its Uttar Pradesh-based 1,200 MW Rosa Power project.

ILS advised Axis Bank, Allahabad Bank and Syndicate Bank on the execution of three different loan agreements as well as conversion of existing Rupee term loans into foreign currency loans to enable Rosa Power Supply to reach full-capacity power generation.

ILS Mumbai-based partner Tushar Desai led the transaction for the lender consortium while the borrower Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)-owned Reliance Power acted through its in-house legal team.

Desai told Legally India: “The Axis Bank Ltd and Allahabad Bank granted such foreign currency loans through their respective Hong Kong branches, Syndicate Bank did so from its London branch.

“While the first transaction of Axis Bank Ltd.,(for $20m), was signed in October 2010, the other two were with Allahabad Bank ($15m) and Syndicate Bank ($15m) were signed in January 2011. In this case individual facility agreements were executed with each of the ECB lenders and other finance documents were executed for inclusion of the ECB Lenders as part of the consortium.”

According to the Economic Times the Rosa plant recently hit 105 per cent of its power generation capacity last month.

Luthra & Luthra has advised a Power Finance Corporation-led consortium of 27 lenders to fund KSK Mahanadi’s Rs 16,190 crore power project in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Exclusive: R&A Legal, S&R Associates, Latham & Watkins, Spanish firm Uria Menendez and India Law Services have advised on the internal restructuring of Spanish infrastructure company Grupo Isolux Corsan’s investments into an Indian Rs 4,518 crore ($997m) road project.

Trilegal and Link Legal have advised power producer Caparo Energy’s $ 1.28bn contract for supply of wind power projects equipment with India’s largest turbine manufacturers Suzlon India.

Exclusive: Luthra & Luthra has maintained its lead in the project finance domain as the top Indian and second-ranked law firm globally by deal volumes. Amarchand Mangaldas, S J Law Advocates, India Law Services and AZB & Partners followed up in the domestic rankings, where 163 projects worth $81.4bn were completed in India in 2010, according to data provider Dealogic.

Luthra & Luthra has built on its lead in the Dealogic Indian project finance league table of the first three quarters of 2010, as Amarchand Mangaldas completed four project financings in the last quarter and caught up into second place ahead of newcomers such as Axon Partners LLP and R&A Legal Advocates. Globally the top two firms are also in the top 10 of project finance legal advisers by value.

FoxMandal Delhi acted as the lender’s sole legal counsel for state power sector unit Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and others in the development of a 1,320MW thermal power project in Andhra Pradesh.

Project finance law firms R&A Legal and India Law Services have advised on the Rs 970 crore ($210m) term loan and bank guarantee between Navayuga Engineering Company Limited and Bank of Baroda led bank consortium for the financing and development of India’s largest private sector port at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Luthra & Luthra was the most active project finance legal advisers both by value and volume in the first half of 2010, followed by India Law Services, SJ Law Advocates & Solicitors,  Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners and SN Gupta & Co, according to data compiled for Legally India by data provider Dealogic.