BMR & Associates

BMR & Associates Delhi indirect tax head partner Puneet Bansal left the firm on 15 June with BMR associate director Kulraj Ashpnani, to start up his independent indirect tax boutique Nitya Tax Associates, said Ashpnani.

Bansal, who started his legal career at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) in May 2003, as a chartered accountant in the firm’s disputes practice, went on to pursue his LLB from 2004 to 2007 at Delhi University. He left LKS in 2012 to join BMR & Associates as a partner.

Ashpnani who joined BMR from ELP in October 2013 is an associate partner at Nitya.

Nitya is based in Delhi and will service clients on indirect tax matters and related disputes.

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.