AZB & Partners

Amarchand Mangaldas’ Bangalore office advised Japan’s largest non-life insurer Mitsui Sumitomo in its Rs 2,731 crore ($530m) purchase of 26 per cent in the joint venture (JV) of Indian insurer Max India and US insurer New York Life Insurance, which were respectively advised by AZB & Partners and Paul Weiss, and Platinum Partners and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Fourteen law firms kept busy in a sideways economy with 14 deals in corporate, private equity and banking and finance. Find out what the industry has been up to.

Legally India’s round-up of the latest 15 cases and deals and their legal advisers, including Luthra’s defence of Yahoo! India in two high-profile cases, and a massive boom in debt capital markets – but only one equity cap markets deal for AZB.

AZB & Partners has for the first time advised L Capital, the private equity arm of luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton Moët Hennesy (LVMH), which bought 8 per cent in Indian clothes and lifestyle product retailer Fabindia from Wolfensohn Capital Partners, which was represented by Luthra & Luthra. Menon Associates is understood to be representing Premji Invest on its 7 per cent investment.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners Delhi has promoted corporate senior associate and 2000 NLSIU Bangalore graduate Debashish Sankhari to its partnership yesterday.

AZB & Partners picked up the Westlaw-SILF cup 2012 after defeating a heterogeneous lawyers’ team named Lawyers United by seven wickets in the finals of the annual law firm cricket tournament held at Hamdard University, Delhi on Sunday evening.

17 deals and cases in brief this week, spanning M&A, a raft of financings, private equity, debt and equity capital markets and litigation.

Deals with Dua Associates, AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co, Vichar Partners, Majmudar & Co, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and more…

Exclusive: AZB & Partners Delhi office advised NBFC Religare Finvest in which private equity firm NYLIM Jacob Ballas purchased a Rs 200 crore ($39.8m) stake, which was advised by S&R Associates.

Mint exclusive: India’s corporate law firms advised on fewer and smaller mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the 2011 calendar year than in 2010, which affected revenues but still kept firms such as AZB & Partners, Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Desai & Diwanji busy with a lion’s share of work.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners Mumbai and Khaitan & Co’s Delhi office have scooped the mandate to advise on Reliance Industries bid to invest in two Network18 subsidiaries for more than Rs 1,500 crore ($290m).

The latest and greatest deals and cases not yet covered, rounded up for you in one convenient bite-size package.

Read Legally India’s December and late November deals round-up to find out what friends and colleagues have been up to.

Although a plethora of Indian anti-corruption and bribery laws exist, many are not very effective and foreign rules such as the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) could have unpredictable consequences for Indian companies, said AZB & Partners, UK barrister’s chamber No5 and chartered accountancy BDO.

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.

Four senior counsel and Naik in SLP against immovable property rental service tax; AZB Bangalore Muthoot debentures; Universal-Wadia Ghandy Pizza Hut deal; Infrastructure India windfarm buy with 3 foreign firms and KhaiCo, MMB; ANM for Godrej in cyber squatter; Rs 200 crore P&A Kemrock buy; Amarchand Essar delisting.

AZB & Partners Delhi and P&A Associates advised on the sale of AppLabs to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for as much as Rs 1,200 crore ($253m).

Exclusive: Vishnu Jerome, who resigned from AZB & Partners in June, has started up the law firm Alliance Legal with fellow NLSIU Bangalore graduates Priyanka Roy and Ravi Kumar from J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Talwar Thakore Associates (TTA) respectively.

Exclusive: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the $454m takeover of UTV by Disney today after 25 calendar days, with J Sagar Associates (JSA), AZB & Partners and Dhall Law Chambers advising.