Amarchand Mangaldas
Desai & Diwanji acted on 24 M&A deals in the 2009 calendar year, placing it at the top of data provider mergermarket's M&A league table by volume. Amarchand Mangaldas topped the table by value, having advised on M&A deals worth $6.4bn in 2009, while Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners also gave a strong showing.
In December 2009 Luthra & Luthra slipped past Khaitan & Co into second place in the initial public offering (IPO) league tables after acting on three IPOs with Khaitan bagging two instructions. Crawford Bayley took three deals and drew level with AZB & Partners as the fourth busiest Indian IPO firm, while Amarchand Mangaldas built up its lead with five mandates.
Former Amarchand Mangaldas partner Krishnava Dutt's Kolkata spin-off firm is now operational as Argus Partners and has already grown to a size to rival his former firm's outpost while looking to become a national firm.
In November Amarchand Mangaldas' Bangalore office bagged a role in four out of six initial public offerings (IPOs), and together with one instruction from Delhi has extended its lead in the top spot of the IPO league tables over Khaitan & Co, Luthra & Luthra and AZB & Partners.
Amarchand Mangaldas has been increasingly turning to the UK and Ireland for talent making three innovative hires in recent weeks alone. So what is the Shroffs' game plan? Is Amarchand spreading its wings to turn into a global law firm?
Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi office is launching a day-care facility for the children of its working mothers in a bid to support and facilitate work-life balance.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton tax partner Nikhil Mehta has resigned and entered into a retainer agreement with Amarchand Mangaldas that could see him spend up to 40 per cent of his time doing non-Indian tax advice for the firm.
Things usually start out nice and steady and the managing partner wears the star rainmaker cap and every other hat on top of it.
But with greater size come greater responsibilities.
It is therefore not a huge surprise that Amarchand Mumbai has taken on a chief operating officer (COO) to relieve the Shroff family of some of its internal management duties.
That Amarchand has hired a non-Indian COO from the UK is more unusual.
Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners capital markets teams have sewn up Tata Steel's $493m (Rs 2,550 crore) convertible bond swap, marking the third joint instruction for the firms on similar deals in the past half-year.
The Delhi offices of Amarchand Mangaldas and Luthra & Luthra have advised Dish TV in issuing GDRs (Global Depository Receipts) worth Rs. 465 crores ($100m) to Apollo Management for an 11 per cent stake in the company.
Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai has created the role of chief operating officer (COO) and filled the post with a former UK firm's COO who will create a 100-day-plan to improve internal management at the firm.
Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai has advised Aditya Birla Group in the series of mergers between Grasim Industries, Samruddhi Cements and UltraTech Cements, creating India's largest and the world's tenth largest cement manufacturer.
This week a cyclone was forecast to ravage Mumbai. Government offices closed at 3pm, slums were evacuated and several law firms shut their doors and sent staff home as a precaution.However, the cyclone fizzled out and Khaitan & Co managed to go ahead with its new Mumbai office housewarming party, the paint barely dry on the walls.
In Delhi meanwhile, an overheating lamp caused a small fire in Phoenix Legal's office. Just like in Mumbai's supposed cyclone, fortunately no one was hurt and the tiny inferno was brought quickly under control by firefighting lawyers.
But not just forces of nature caused excitement this week.
The Lawyer magazine first reported on Monday that Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi has hired a non Indian-qualified competition law expert from Ireland.
Several law firms have reason to be happy (no, the Advocates Act's restriction on foreign lawyers practising has not been repealed).
Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi has hired a non-Indian qualified competition law specialist as a director in its competition law practice, reports The Lawyer magazine.
Luthra & Luthra, AZB & Partners and S&R Associates have pushed up the IPO league tables this October, as J Sagar Associates (JSA) and capital markets specialist firm JurisPrudent Consulting Partners make their entry into the rankings.
Luthra & Luthra has closed two project finance deals out of Delhi and Mumbai this week, acting on the Rs 1,497 crores ($325m) Gujarat road development project and the Rs 4,000 crore ($850m) syndicated term loan for Cairn India to develop oil fields.
Legally India research has revealed Amarchand Mangaldas as the top IPO dealmaker of this financial year so far, while Khaitan & Co and Luthra & Luthra are in close contest for the runner-up spot. International and domestic firms are competing in a tightly bunched mid-field of the ranking.
For the first time this year, Desai & Diwanji and Khaitan & Co are leading the third quarter Indian M&A rankings both by value and volume of deals, pushing Amarchand Mangaldas two places down mergermarket's value league table compared to three months ago.
Amarchand Mangaldas has acted on 70 per cent of qualified institutional placements (QIPs) in the first half of this financial year, with international firms, AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Luthra & Luthra, S & R Associates and Crawford Bayley mopping up the rest.
Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra have benefited the most from the dash to hit the markets by month-end, as 16 companies filed draft initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses in the last two weeks.