Law firms
Law firms
Kochhar & Co has hired two partners in Chennai and Hyderabad in a major South India push, which includes new Chennai and Bangalore office space and further expansion plans.
Corporate M&A ALMT Legal in Bangalore and Malaysian law firm Zuraidah Naziha & Fadly advised Indian developer Davanam Constructions and Ascenteus Holdings of Malaysia in their $350m joint venture hotel project.
Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)
Legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider CPA Global has hired Rio Tinto's managing attorney Leah Cooper as a board member, following Cooper striking a deal last year to outsource $20m of the mining giant's annual legal work to CPA in India.
Law firms
Induslaw has created a new career step of principal associate as a one-to-two-year training ground before partnership and has promoted one if its senior associates into the new role.
Projects FoxMandal Little has acted as lender's counsel on the Rs 2224 crores ($515mn) ONGC Tripura Power Company project finance documentation acting for Power Finance Corporation.
The firm was instructed in September 2009, with Delhi senior partner B N Banerjee, and senior associate Rajesh Sehgal and associate Milli Chatterjee leading the team.
According to a press release from the firm, no other law firms were involved in the transaction.
Sehgal said in the release: "It was challenging, since ONGC being a Navratna company is on the Board of the OTPC. For us it was the first time we had done a deal with ONGC and the captive natural gas based power stations interconnected with the power project."
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) received Rs 2,224 crore in debt funding from Power Finance Corp (PFC) for its proposed 700 MW power plant at Tripura.
Law firms
FoxMandal Little's London office has hired UK MP Keith Vaz as a "brand ambassador", while the firm's similar commercial retainer with its previous London consultant and former High Court judge has ended.
Law firms
Surana & Surana head consultant litigation M L Joseph has set up the law firm Chennai Law Associates to focus on contentious and intellectual property matters.
Law firms
Link Legal has promoted senior associate Ajay Sawhney to partnership in its corporate and aviation practice and has hired a senior associate projects lawyer from in-house.
Corporate M&A Desai & Diwanji and Tatva Legal, with Davis Polk & Wardwell and Richards Butler advised on private equity house Quadrangle Capital and others' $300m investment in India's second largest operator of telecoms towers Tower Vision India.
Law firms
SN Gupta & Co is launching its Mumbai litigation practice with the hire of former MLS Vani & Associates senior associate Hiren Mehta as a partner, who will look to building a practice of 10 lawyers in the firm's new High Court office.
Litigation
A divison bench of the Delhi High Court has widened across India its April 2009 judgment that service tax on commercial rentals is ultra vires the Finance Act, in a victory for law firm LexCounsel.
Projects
Luthra & Luthra has closed the Rs 2400 crores ($521m) GVK Power (Goindwalsahib) project finance fundraising acting for IDBI Bank and a consortium of 12 others as lender's counsel.
Luthra & Luthra's projects team was led by Mumbai partner Vijaya Rao (pictured), assisted by managing associate Bikash Jhawar, and associates Pulkit Sharma and Sneha Jha.
Corporate M&A Khaitan & Co and Naik Naik & Co have advised multiplex owner INOX Leisure in acquiring a 43.28 per cent stake of the promoter group of rival multiplex chain Fame India for Rs 66.34 crore.
Private equity / VC
Khaitan & Co has picked up the Indian mandate to advise private equity group Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) on the $440m purchase of legal process outsourcing company CPA Global, alongside a raft of international firms.
Capital Markets Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai is acting for Oberoi Realty while AZB & Partners Mumbai and Shearman & Sterling Singapore are acting for the underwriters in the Rs 1,500 crore ($325m) initial public offering (IPO) of the Mumbai real estate company, according to the draft prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 18 January 2010.
The book-running lead managers are Kotak Mahindra, Enam Securities, JP Morgan India and Morgan Stanley India.
Amarchand, Luthra & Luthra and Khaitan & Co were leading in Legally India's Q3 2009-10 IPO rankings.
Corporate M&A
Mumbai firm Gagrats and Link Legal have advised on the joint venture (JV) between Jet Airways and GMR Hyderabad International Airport and Malaysian Aerospace Engineering.