Law firms

Luthra & Luthra has continued its Delhi-round of internal promotions taking the partner promotion tally to three this December with the latest promotion of managing associate J P Singh to an indirect tax partner.

Desai & Diwanji has advised IDFC Mutual Fund on its estimated Rs 300 crore ($66m) sale of a 25 per cent stake in IDFC Asset Management Company to French asset manager Natixis, which was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai.

Majmudar & Co and K&L Gates have advised on e-commerce enterprise Rearden Commerce’s world-wide acquisition of Ketera Technologies, which was advised by DLA Piper and Thakker & Thakker that will cease operating at the end of this year.

Exclusive: Start-up Vidhii Partners has opened its second Mumbai office, branching out into Bandra with a media law practice headed by new partner and former UTV Motion Pictures legal head Nandini Mehta.

Exclusive: M Dhruva & Partners and senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas won an interim order from the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in favour of Ackruti City, allowing Ackruti’s promoters to pledge their own shares after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 2 December banned the promoters from dealing in their shares following allegations of price manipulation.

Senior advocate Fali Nariman led industrial house Wadia Group’s victory in a high-profile property dispute matter in the Bombay High Court against real estate developers G L Raheja which was represented by Bharucha & Partners and senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, reported the Economic Times.

Amarchand Mangaldas has advised J P Morgan India’s real estate investment fund on its partial Rs 115.23 crore ($25.4m) exit in B Raheja Builders to builder group K Raheja, which hired Wadia Ghandy as legal counsel.

Exclusive: The Bombay High Court declined interim relief in an action filed by M Dhruva & Partners on behalf of its client Crimson Hospitality Services against developers Lavasa Corporation, which allegedly violated a court injunction of an earlier public interest litigation (PIL).

Start-up firm Axon Partners LLP has closed nearly a year restructuring roughly $2bn of debt of steel producer Jindal Stainless (JSL), with Amarchand Mangaldas and Clifford Chance jointly advising a variety of lending banks.

AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have advised on a majority of M&A mandates out of 26India-related transactions in November, according to data aggregated by mergermarket.

Exclusive: Jaipur-based corporate law firm Chir Amrit Law Chambers has relocated to a bigger office to gear-up for market opportunities in Rajasthan’s fast paced industrial growth and national law firms’ that have shown interest in opening offices in the region.

J Sagar Associates’ (JSA) Bangalore office has advised Volvo Bus Corporation in the buy-out of a 30 per cent stake of its Indian joint venture from partner Jaico Automobile Engineering, which hired AKS Law Associates.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has boosted its private equity and corporate practice with the hire of ARA Law partner Darshan Upadhyay under the new associate partner designation, which reduces the size of ARA’s partnership to one.

Crawford Bayley and Amarchand Mangaldas have been duking it out in the Bombay High Court on behalf of expelled Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals and the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) respectively, with a ruling on an arbitrator’s interim relief expected this week.

Luthra & Luthra has promoted two lawyers in Delhi to partner and elevated 9 associates to the senior and managing associate rungs, with corporate seeing more than half of the action.

Amarchand Mangaldas has advised JSW Energy on its $422m (Rs 1,900 crore) acquisition of Canadian power company CIC Energy with a raft of international law firms.