Law firms

Desai & Diwanji, DSK Legal and Universal Legal reprised their roles in Aster DM Healthcare's second fundraising round.

Universal Legal Chennai partners Kavitha Vijay and Sameena Chatrapatty acted for DM.

On the repeat investor side, DSK partner Narendra Dingankar and associate Mayank Mehta acted for India Value Fund and Desai & Diwanji partner Siddharth Mody and associates Ashraf Lala, Manav Shah and Ankesh Jain acted for Olympus.

DM Healthcare raised a further $65m from Olympus and IVF, reported the Economic Times.

The same firms had also acted on the initial $100m investment in 2012, as reported by Legally India at the time.

Nishith Desai Associates acted as Indian legal and tax counsel for Cognizant, which bought Atlanta-based digital video solutions company itaas, which was represented by P&A Associates.

Nishith Desai's Munich-based European operations head Ruchi Biyani, with partner Nishchal Joshipura and Singapore-based international tax head Mahesh Kumar, acted for the Indian IT giant, alongside US law firm Venable.

P&A, which used to have a best friend relationship with Jones Day several years ago, acted for itaas led by managing partner Anand Pathak, together with US law firm Morris Manning & Martin.

The deal value was not disclosed but itaas is estimated to have revenues of around $30-50m annually, wrote Mint in a detailed report, and is hoped to help Cognizant increase its US work from US telecoms and media companies.

Axon Partners LLP and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy jointly advised the lead book runners and lead managers in Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV issuing $1bn and €750m of notes, with Allen & Overy (A&O) advised Bharti Airtel and the Dutch issue on Dutch and US laws.

Axon co-founding partner Abhimanyu Bhandari with associates Kajal Bhimani and Prashant Kumar advised on Indian law with Milbank Singapore partner Naomi Ishikawa with senior associate Adrian Yeo and associate Leroy Langeveld.

A&O Hong Kong partner Amit Singh with associates Garrick Merlo and Vivian Chow acted for the issuer.

The book runners were Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan Securities PLC and Bank of America-Merril Lynch, reported Mint and others.

The same firms had also acted on Bharti's Dutch $1bn dollar bond issue one year ago, followed by a €750m bond in December 2013.

Kapil Sapra & Associates (KSA) has started an office in Bangalore, transferring two lawyers from its head office in Delhi to the city.

IndusLaw partner Avimukt Dar with associates Aakriti Shakdher and Kriti Tannan acted for AM Marketplaces, which runs "social shopping platform" LimeRoad.com and received $15m in Series B funding from Tiger Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners VCCircle.

Luthra & Luthra partner Deepak Joyce acted for Matrix and Lightspeed, while Tiger Global drafted in Gunderson Dettmer New York partner Steven L Baglio and associate Eric Cheung.

Delhi-based IP boutique LexOrbis has promoted Deepak Sriniwas, Rajeev Kumar, Amaya Singh and Pooja Dodd to salaried partner.

Khaitan & Co and Clifford Chance Hong Kong advised HSBC's Hong Kong branch on its $30m term loan facility to the State Bank of India's Shanghai branch for general corporate purposes.

Khaitan banking partner Devidas Banerji (who joined the firm from CC in 2010) and Clifford Chance partner Matthew Truman acted for HSBC.

Answer: It depends (but nine is magic number)

Kumar is the "key associate involved in all the patent matters" at Singh & Singh Law Firm LLP and has worked on cases in the pharmaceutical and technology fields, on matters such as the Novartis dispute and cases relating to fair, reasonable and non discriminatory (FRAND) patents, according to a statement from the firm.

Kumar graduated in 2007 with a business management degree, followed by a law degree from Bharati Vidyapeeth University Pune in 2010 and a Masters in IP law from University College London. The firm has three other senior associates and four partners.

The markets are picking up it looks like – here’s the round-up of what firms have been getting up to.

Dua Associates has promoted three to equity partner and one to non-equity partner, reported Bar & Bench citing "reliable sources".

Dinesh Mathur and Vikram Dholakia were promoted in the litigation practice in Delhi, while Srinivas BR got the nod in Bangalore's corporate practice. Senior associate Jay Badola was lifted into non-equity partnership, according to the website. [Bar & Bench]

Legally India had reported that Mathur was hired as an equity partner by Dua in 2010, citing managing partner Ranji Dua, in the aftermath of a the massive Tatva Legal breakaway from the firm.

Fox Mandal Bangalore has acquired technology law firm White Forest Law Offices, which was started by Rajesh Vellakkat in 2002, to boost its tech and intellectual property expertise.

UK-headquartered magic circle firm Allen & Overy, which used to have a best friend relationship with Trilegal but gave up because it saw no prospect of the Indian legal market opening up, is set to open an office in Myanmar, which recently liberalised its economy, following Baker & McKenzie having announced an office in February and US firms Duane Morris and Herzfeld Rubin Meyer & Rose opening in the traditionally protectionist Indian neighbour in late 2013, reported the American Lawyer (paywall).