Law firms

Argus Partners, which broke away from Amarchand Mangaldas Kolkata last year, has set up a Mumbai office relocating partner Ramya Hariharan to the city full-time while partner Krishnava Dutt will also spend half his time in the financial hub.

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.

Former Luthra & Luthra and FoxMandal Little partner Vineet Aneja has now joined ALMT Legal to start up the firm’s office in Delhi.

Luthra & Luthra has kickstarted its intellectual property (IP) enforcement practice with the hire of senior lawyers J Kumar Bhardwaj, Munish Mehra, Amit Upadhyay and their team from Anand & Anand.

Khaitan & Co has hired its second full-time banking partner, with former Clifford Chance London and Singapore senior associate Devidas Banerji joining in Mumbai.

Amarchand Mangaldas Bangalore and Indus Law Advocates advised on private equity funds Sandstone Capital and Sequoia Capital’s Rs 200 crore minority stake investment in India’s largest domestic handset maker Micromax.

It is fair to say that a sizable number of Indian senior associates and junior partners are preoccupied with equity, or rather a lack of it.

Majmudar & Co has hired former ING in-houser, Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) law officer and Ministry of Corporate Affairs-officer Abdul Rasheed as an associate partner in Bangalore, as well as taking on a principal in the Mumbai tax group.

Khaitan & Co and Kanga & Co have assisted on the sale of more than 74,000 square metres of industrial real estate in Andheri East, Mumbai from Borosil Glass Works to Neepa Real Estate Private Limited for Rs 830 crore ($178m).

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan has hired two partners from intellectual property (IP) firm Remfry & Sagar, including its head of patents, to head up its IP practice in Delhi.

EXCLUSIVE: Khaitan & Co has hired Symbiosis graduate Rajat Mukherjee as an “associate partner”, which is the first time a non-equity salaried partner has joined the firm under the revamped partnership structure.

Khaitan & Co and White & Case LLP have advised Indian-listed transmission tower manufacturer KEC International in its $ 95m acquisition of US-based SAE Towers Holdings LLC which was advised by Hogan Lovells LLP.

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 partner Vineet Aneja, who had re-joined his former firm from FoxMandal in Delhi one year ago, has resigned to look for more "entrepreneurial" opportunities.

Amarchand Mangaldas equity corporate partner Himanshu Narayan has resigned the firm to join Dua Associates in Delhi.

Majmudar & Co and Herbert Smith have assisted port infrastructure company Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics Limited in launching their foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) issuance of $280m last month.