Online insurance selling platform Policybazaar, which is operated by ETechAces Marketing and Consulting, has raised Rs 515 crore ($79 million) in a Series E funding round, as reported by VC Circle.

Former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas banking partner Niloufer Lam, who had left the firm amicably in April 2017, has joined the law firm ZBA as a partner.

Former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas partner Nikhil Naredi, who resigned around April 2017, will join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas soon, according to several authoritative sources, although nothing has been signed yet pending expiry of Naredi’s near-six months of gardening leave from his former firm to date.

Massive Vodafone-IDEA merger continues causing quakes in league tables half a year after having been announced...

The commerce and law ministries are unequivocally in favour of opening up the legal sector to foreign lawyers as soon as possible, reveal the full minutes of the July meeting between ministries and lawyers, though the details of how this will be done remain uncertain.

"Non-banking finance company Five Star Business Finance has raised Rs 333 crores (about $50 million) in its Series C round led by Norwest Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. Existing investors including a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia and Matrix Partners also participated in the round. The round saw Five Star raising Rs 318 crores through primary infusion with about Rs 15 crores coming in via a secondary sale of shares," reported the Economic Times.

“State-owned reinsurance company General Insurance Corp. of India (GIC) filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO will see a total stake dilution of 14.22%, according to the DRHP available on the website of one of the investment banks managing the share sale,” reported Mint.

"Milestone Commercial Advantage Fund made its first investment in June in The Capital, a commercial building in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex," reported the Economic Times.

Khaitan & Co Bangalore partner Ganesh Prasad with associate partner Vinay Joy, principal associate Arun Scaria and senior associate Sanjay Khan Nagra represented Indian Singapore-headquartered e-commerce Flipkart on the $2.5bn investment.

"Axis Bank Ltd on Thursday announced the acquisition of Snapdeal-owned mobile wallet FreeCharge in a Rs385 crore all-cash deal, strengthening its position in the payments space," reported Mint.

"Global private equity (PE) firm Carlyle Group has emerged as the front runner for GE Capital Corp’s stake in SBI Card, the credit card joint venture between the US-based company and India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI). Carlyle has emerged as the front runner for GE Capital’s stake in SBI Cards for somewhere around $325 million. The board of SBI settled upon the final bidder in a meeting. Carlyle has pipped Warburg Pincus and Credit Saison and emerged as the final bidder though the deal is not closed yet,” reported Mint.

Traditionally, Indian companies have been a family run affair, with the promoter (founder) shareholders hesitant to lose control over the family business. As a corollary, private equity investments were also conventionally minority investments. But the growth of the Indian economy has given birth to a new generation of entrepreneurs - the executive-turned-entrepreneur as well as those joining the start-up band wagon.

"SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd on Monday filed the draft red herring prospectus for its initial public offering (IPO), joining several other insurance companies headed for the stock market. In an offer for sale, SBI and BNP Paribas will sell 80 million and 40 million shares respectively, amounting to a combined 12% stake. SBI Life is not raising any primary capital. The IPO could see SBI Life raise more than $1 billion (about Rs6,500 crore), a Bloomberg story quoted bankers as saying," reported Mint.

The mandate of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the asset management space, has translated into various regulations, through which SEBI regulates funds (domestic and offshore) as well as certain managers/advisers.

"The Competition Commission has dismissed allegations of unfair business practices against the producers of Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani 2 movie, which was released last year. K Sera Sera Digital Cinema had moved the regulator after the film's producers — Pen India and Boundscript Motion Pictures — refused to provide the movie to it for exhibition. Among others, it was alleged that the movie was given only to UFO Moviez India and Real Image Media Technologies," reported PTI.

Tata Steel on Friday sold its entire 2.9 per cent stake in Tata Motors to Tata Sons through a block deal on the BSE. A block deal of 8.35 crore shares was executed at an average price of Rs 452.80 a share. At that price, the deal size stood at Rs 3,780.88 crore. Last week, the Tata group had said to reduce cross-holdings, Tata Sons, the holding company of the $103-billion Tata group, will acquire Tata Steel’s 2.85 per cent share in Tata Motors on or after June 23. After the stake buy, Tata Sons’ holding in Tata Motors will increase to 31.06 per cent from the current 28.2 per cent.

Intertape, the Canadian packaging company with executive headquarters in Sarasota County, announced Thursday it is making a “greenfield” investment in Capstone Polyweave Private Limited, which plans to build a $30 million manufacturing facility in Karoli, India. Capstone’s shareholders also own and operate Delhi-based Airtrax Polymers Private Limited, which manufactures and sells woven products that are used in the building and construction industry. Airtrax posted $11 million in revenues for the year ended March 31.

The CLIENT:: State Bank of India (SBI);; is planning to raise Rs 15,000 crore in capital through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of 54.4 crore equity shares, reported Bloomberg Quint.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) is closing its transaction support group (TSG), which was set up 2013 in Mumbai to explore providing volume-focused transactional support at lower rates on work such as due diligence and other commoditised advice, with its TSG head Ami Parikh joining AZB & Partners to start a TSG there.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas principal associate Tirthankar Datta will join J Sagar Associates (JSA) some time next month as a retained partner in its banking team, we understand from sources.