Law firms

CMS has become the first international firm to open an office in Iran, two weeks after sanctions against the country were lifted by the US

NLSIU Bangalore 2000 graduate Richa Naujoks was promoted to partnership at Nixon Peabody in New York City, according to a press release from the firm.

Jones Day Singapore capital markets partner and India group head Manoj Bhargava and of counsel Ankit Kashyap have both resigned from the firm around a week ago.

IndusLaw has hired RDA Legal Bangalore partner Avik Biwsas as a partner in its Bangalore office with his team of associates Shrutika Umarji, N Guruprasad, Jaya Shruthi and Amrutha Bhat.

Fox Mandal Bangalore corporate partner Debanjan Bannerjee will join Juris Corp as a partner in its M&A and private equity practice, opening up an office in Bangalore for the firm.

Hariani & Co won this year’s Bombay Gymkhana club football championship against the Bombay Bar Association, to pick up the Chief Justice MC Chagla Cup.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas moved into its now-renovated 23rd, 24th and 17th floors of its Express Towers offices late last month.

Alpha Partners advised online grocery service Mera Grocer on its acquisition by the hypermarket chain Spencer’s Retail which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

Alpha Delhi partner Akshat Pande acted for the Omnipresent Retail-owned Mera Grocer which currently operates in Gurgaon and some Delhi neighbourhoods.

Khaitan Mumbai partner Ashish Razdan, executive director Daksha Baxi, senior associates Alok Sonker, Shabnam Shaikh and Surajkumar Shetty, principal associate Shailendra Bhandare and associates Sunayana Bose, Abir Sarkar and Alisha Ganjawala acted for the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group-owned multi-format retailer Spencer’s Retail.

Mera Grocer earns only Rs 5 crore in annual revenue but Spencer’s bought it less for its size and more for its robust information technology platform, reported Mint.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed support for enabling foreign lawyers to establish a presence in India.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas advised Red Fort India Real Estate on its Rs 600 crore ($89m) exit from Exora Business Parks, selling its stake to Valdel Extent Outsourcing Solutions which was advised by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. CAM also advised Exora and the promoter Prestige Estate Projects

SAM Delhi partners Jatin Aneja and VR Neelakantan, principal associate Siddhartha Sen and senior associate Varun Nair acted for Red Fort India is a fund managed by Red Fort Capital.

CAM Bangalore partner Nagavalli Gopalakrishna acted for Valdel, Exora and Prestige.

Prestige Estates, through its subsidiary Valdel, bought 62.54 per cent of Red Fort’s stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) Exora that owns the villa project Silver Oak, reported the Times of India adding that Rs 250 crore worth residential stock was also part of the buyout.

NLSIU Bangalore 2001 alumnus Azmul Haque left Olswang Singapore in September to start up Collyer Law, in Singapore. NLSIU batch mate Palash Gupta joins Collyer as India Desk head, and former Duane Morris & Selvam partner James Wong joins as Director. Collyer will advise start-ups and small businesses.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) climbed up five ranks since Mergermarket’s preview of 2015’s annual rankings, to overtake Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM). CAM, according to the preview, was the third largest M&A dealmaker after AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co.