Allen & Overy

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.

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).

Allen & Overy (A&O) has promoted India-England-New-York qualified counsel Amit Singh to partnership in the Hong Kong capital markets practice.

Baring Private Equity Asia is set to take a minority stake in cement maker Lafarge India for $265m (Rs 1400 crore), with three domestic firms and two foreign law firms advising on the deal.

Lafarge was represented domestically by AZB & Partners on law and BMR & Associates on tax issues, with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advising on non-Indian laws. AZB fielded Mumbai partner Essaji Vahanvati, BMR led with partner Kalpesh Desai. Clearys’ team consisted of Paris partner Pierre-Yves Chabert and associate Charles Masson.

Baring drafted in Wadia Ghandy Bangalore partner Ankit Majmudar and Allen & Overy (A&O) Paris partner Frederic Jungels.

Baring will subscribe to 200 million Euros of shares in a Lafarge subsidiary, giving the private equity house a 14 per cent stake, according to a press release from Cleary. The deal is slated as the largest in the private equity space in India so far this year, according to the WSJ.

London international firms beat US firms in recognition and volume stakes.

Magic circle law firm Allen & Overy promotes 2001 NLSIU Bangalore graduate and banking counsel Gautam Narasimhan.

Allen & Overy (A&O) acted for Bharti Airtel, which issued bonds for the first time ever in a heavily oversubscribed offer for $1bn. Axon Partners and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy advised the underwriters.

Exclusive: Trilegal, which is claimed to have been growing at 25 per cent per year, has converted into nearly a full equity partnership, created an elected management committee and a democratic model where the founding partners could theoretically be ousted by an equity partnership vote.

Legally India was candidly walked through the changes and examines the back story to the end of its best friendship with Allen & Overy (A&O), the grief lawyers can cause, one-way referrals and the inevitability of associate attrition when a firm has to run fast without godfathers.

Breaking: Law firms Allen & Overy and Trilegal have ended their five-year best friend relationship, according to a press release from both firms.

The latest deals in one place: Khaitan for Kingfisher, Heidelberg, Hutchison Whampoa | AMSS for Mitsui, Schneider, Alstom, Siemens, RTL, IDFC | Siemens: AMSS-Jones Day & more.

Aiming to rekindle a “constructive debate” on the liberalisation of the Indian legal sector, UK headquartered magic circle firm Allen & Overy (A&O) has started a public relations (PR) offensive with an independent survey that confirmed overwhelming support for the entry of foreign law firms among Indian corporate lawyers and clients.

AZB & Partners and international law firm Shearman & Sterling advised a Canadian financial holdings company’s investment subsidiary Fairbridge Capital in its purchase of 76.81 per cent equity for Rs 817 crore ($150m) in British holiday maker Thomas Cook Group’s (TCG) Indian subsidiary Thomas Cook India (TCIL). TCG was advised by Trilegal with international best friend law firm Allen & Overy.

Desai & Diwanji has again reclaimed its throne as the busiest M&A firm in India having acted on 33 deals in the first three quarters of the year with Khaitan & Co also laying down improved M&A figures, while AZB & Partners, Talwar Thakore Associates and S&R Associates harvested the biggest value deals, also benefitting Linklaters and Allen & Overy.

- Allen & Overy sues Indian company Nimbus for recovery of legal fees in Singapore High Court [Bloomberg]

- Land Acquisition act is a fraud devised by “sick minds” and should be scrapped, says SC Justice Singhvi [ET]

- Vodafone claims no tax liability in SC chapter of Saga [Mint]

- No proposal to improve judicial appointments system says Khursheed but is aware of demands for change [UNI]

- SC allows NMDC to continue operating Bellary mines, private companies banned [The Hindu]

- Justice Syed Rafat Alam is new Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court [Outlook]

Nalsar Hyderabad convincingly bagged the Mooting Premier League trophy for the second consecutive season. It scored a total of 304 points and won this year’s League, sponsored by Allen & Overy, with an astonishing margin of 105 points.