Law firms

Vineetha MG, who left AZB & Partners late last year to start up her own Mumbai firm, which now numbers seven lawyers, has completed her first financing deal.

Amarchand Mangaldas acts on a hoard of financings, while Luthra & Luthra sticks to the markets. Also in this deal round-up: JSA, Crawford, Tatva, AZB, Kochhar, Desai & Diwanji, Trilegal, Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Jones Day, Allen & Overy, Milbank, and other foreign firms..

Desai & Diwanji Delhi partner Amit Khansaheb, who had been with the firm for 18 years, has joined BMR Legal – the legal services arm of consultancy firm BMR Advisors – as a partner in order to ramp up the firm’s M&A and private equity legal practice.

Former Kochhar & Co partner of just over five months, Bidan Chandran, has joined PDS & Associates as partner to develop the banking and finance practice of the corporate commercial and dispute resolution firm.

Two years after Thomson Reuters bought legal process outsourcing (LPO) company Pangea3, a managing director who's been with the company for seven years, Antony Alex, has joined legal industry services provider Rainmaker.

Amarchand, AZB, Khaitan, Crawford Bayley and S&R Associates wrap up the last five deals of 2012..

Link Legal fully merged with project finance boutique India Law Services (ILS) in December to form Link Legal – India Law Services with 14 partners and 73 lawyers, to strengthen its Mumbai practice.

DSK Legal advised India Value Fund Advisors’ (IVFA) trustee IVF Trustee Company in its Rs 1000 crore ($181m) investment in Bangalore-based Manipal Health Enterprises which was advised by Tatva Legal.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) advised online classifieds business Info Edge in its private equity investment, and German glass maker Gerresheimer Glas GmbH in its acquisition, for the second-time this year.

Info Edge invested Rs 5 crore ($9,06,455) for a 25 per cent stake in portal Happily Unmarried, while Gerresheimer bought a 75 per cent stake in Delhi-based pharmaceutical plastics-maker Triveni Polymers which was advised by Desai & Diwanji and BMR Advisors. Happily Unmarried was advised in-house.

JSA Gurgaon partner Rohitashwa Prasad with senior associate Abhishek Shinde acted for Info Edge, as they had done on its Rs 35 crore investment in Canvera Digital Technologies in September.

Mumbai partners Vikram Raghani and Anish Mashruwala, with senior associates Anand Lakra and associates Bir Bahadur S Sachar and Delna Aga acted for Gerresheimer, as they had in May on its 70 per cent acquisition in Neutral Glass, before Mashruwala was made partner.

Desai & Diwanji Delhi partner Amit Khansaheb and BMR Advisors associate Rohit Berry acted for Triveni Polymers.

Info Edge, which owns job portal Naukri and real estate portal 99 acres, has bought optional fully convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares of Happily Unmarried, to expand its online business through this website, according to Medianama

Gerresheimer is looking to double its revenues in emerging markets, like India, from EUR 100 million in 2010 to EUR 200 million in 2013, and achieved emerging market revenues of about EUR 140 million last year, according to Business Standard.

Shearman & Sterling has promoted Hong Kong-based M&A counsel and India co-head Sidharth Bhasin to its partnership.

AZB & Partners advised veteran client diversified technology and manufacturing major Honeywell Asia Pacific in its Rs 130 crore ($25m) sale of 6.24 per cent stake in its subsidiary Honeywell Automation India in an offer for sale through the stock exchange (OFS).

Amarchand Mangaldas and Herbert Smith Freehills advised Deutsche Equities India which was the stock broker for the OFS.

AZB & Partners Delhi co-founding partner Ajay Bahl with partner Anil Kasturi and senior associate Aparna Mehra acted for Honeywell with which Bahl’s relationship dates back to the early 1990s, he told Legally India.

Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai capital markets partners Yash Asher and Gaurav Gupte acted for Deutsche Equities India, with Herbert Smith Freehills Singapore counsel Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan.

Honeywell offloaded 5,51,333 shares as part of this OFS, to bring down the promoters’ holding to 75 per cent as per SEBI’s directive on minimum public shareholding, according to Money Control.

DSK Legal, with German law firm Luther LLP, advised Switzerland-based road construction equipment maker Ammann group in its Rs 280 crore ($51m) buy of 70 per cent equity in Gujarat’s Apollo group’s road-equipment business. Apollo was advised by Desai & Diwanji.

DSK Legal Mumbai partners Raksha Kothari and Nirav Shah with associates Karuna Thapa, Gaurav Mistry and Malabika Boruah, and Luther Frankfurt partner Jorg Sommer acted for Ammann which will form a 70:30 construction equipment joint venture (JV) with Apollo Earthmovers, according to DSK Legal.

Desai & Diwanji Mumbai partner Vihang Virkar with associate partner Aneesh Gupte acted for the Apollo Group.

The newly formed road-construction equipment JV – Apollo Construction Equipment (ACEL) - is valued at Rs 400 crore and Apollo group’s asphalt plants and the paver business will be transferred to ACEL on a slump sale basis, according to VC Circle.

Clifford Chance India group partner and Amarchand Mangaldas alumnus Sumesh Sawhney has resigned to join Jones Day in London.

Amarchand Mangaldas senior associate Rishi Anand has founded Delhi start-up Gnarus Partners with three associates and one litigation head, aiming to double in size by next year and by attracting second-tier work.

Exclusive: Senior Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi equity partner Harry Chawla, who also co-heads the Delhi corporate practice and is one of four non-family partners on the firm’s national management committee, is understood to have resigned from the firm.