Khaitan & Co

Khaitan & Co is the latest firm in Delhi to start a competition law practice with the hire of J Sagar Associates (JSA) competition law and policy head Manas Chaudhuri as a partner, who was previously also additional registrar of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). 

Khaitan & Co Bangalore and local boutique Menon Associates have advised on the MindTree acquisition of US handset maker Kyocera Wireless' Indian arm for Rs 29 crores ($6m) and further consideration linked to future revenues.

Bharucha & Partners and Khaitan & Co have led on The Blackstone Group's Rs 300 crore ($64m) investment in logistics company Gateway Rail Freight.

SN Gupta & Co has started up an M&A practice in Mumbai by hiring a Khaitan & Co senior associate as a partner and an associate from Hemant Sahai Associates.

The firm has also taken on new office space in Mumbai and plans to build a litigation team.

Khaitan & Co's Mumbai office is moving from the Ballard Estate area to Lower Parel, where it has taken a lease of a large space allowing it to double in size in future.

Former Khaitan & Co partner Gauri Rasgotra has rejoined the firm's Delhi office after working for two years in the US as the head of the George Washington University Law School's India Studies Center.

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.

AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day's Hong Kong office have advised Jai Balaji Industries on its proposed Rs 450 crore ($94m) qualified institutional placement (QIP), which is yet to be announced.

Khaitan & Co and Trilegal have taken the first formal steps towards becoming limited liability partnerships (LLP) by registering their LLP names.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co. and Linklaters Singapore are working to help Reliance Infratel on its initial public offering (IPO), which looks to raise around US$ 1 billion (Rs. 5000 crore) from the market.

Khaitan & Co has advised on the purchase of Sri Lankan joint-venture (JV) assets, working with two of Sri Lanka's oldest law firms.

Khaitan & Co has advised motorbike maker Harley Davidson on its entry into India after a US firm's referral of the iconic client.

Khaitan & Co has benefited as tour operator Cox & Kings overhauled its roster of IPO advisers, dropping J Sagar Associates (JSA), which had advised on the aborted 2008 flotation.

Khaitan & Co has won a temporary victory against alleged Bollywood plagiarism in the Calcutta High Court. The firm is representing movie producer Vipul Shah against Sri Venkatesh Films over the currently screening Bengali movie Poran Jay Joliya Re, which Shah alleges is a scene-by-scene "copy-paste" of his film Namastey London.

A raft of law firms have picked up mandates on the four latest initial public offer (IPO) proposals to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), with Amarchand Mangaldas taking two issuer mandates, Luthra & Luthra acting for one company and Rajani Associates for the fourth.

AZB, DSK and Trilegal have done well in Asia Pacific private equity deal rankings despite heavily depressed values and volumes this year.

Khaitan & Co scored the Mahindra Holidays & Resorts listing in Mumbai, which netted the Mahindra Group around Rs. 275 crore over the past month and to many investors signalled a temporary end to the initial public offering (IPO) drought.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day have advised on India's largest initial public offer (IPO) in 18 months for Adani Power's issue, which has so far seen four-fold oversubscription and is hoped to raise between Rs 2,700 and 3,000 crore ($558m to $620m).