L&L Partners

“Canadian Private equity firm Clairvest Group and a consortium of investors have officially announced that they have acquired a majority stake in Head Infotech, the company that operates leading rummy website Ace2three for around $73.7 million (approximately Rs. 474 crores),” reported Glaws.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted for Avenue Supermarts on one of the largest (Rs 1800 crore) and most oversubscribed (106 times) initial public offerings (IPOs) ever, alongside Luthra & Luthra and Herbert Smith Freehills Singapore for the banks, listing with a valuation of Rs 39,998 crore - the 67th largest Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company.

Samvad Partners acted for Delhivery Private Limited on its Rs 650 crore ($100m) investment by private equity giant Carlyle Group along with Tiger Global.

Scoop: Khaitan & Co has poached Luthra & Luthra managing associate Nawneet Vibhaw as an associate partner in Delhi, where he will continue specialising full-time on environmental law as he had been doing at Luthra.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has acted on $40.4bn worth of mergers and acquisition in the 2016 calendar year, according to researcher mergermarket, with AZB & Partners having recorded $30.1bn of M&A deals in the same period.

"Gurgaon-based developer Vatika Group on Friday secured Rs 700 crore funding from Altico Capital and has closed the first tranche of Rs 475 crore,” reported Mint.

Luthra & Luthra partner Santanu Mukherjee, who is head of international trade and policy advisory at the firm and had joined less than a year ago, has announced he’d leave Luthra to apparently go independent.

Luthra & Luthra has hired Bharat Chugh as a counsel in Delhi, according to its press release as reported Bar & Bench.

Asian Legal Business (ALB) magazine last month released a listing of Asia’s biggest law firms, including a round-up of the 25 largest Indian firms by total headcounts.

Former Luthra & Luthra partner Rajesh Chavda, who as we had reported on 2 November had left the firm, has now joined IDFC Alternatives as director legal and compliance.

Luthra & Luthra has moved its Bangalore office from the Ulsoor Road area to the third floor of Onyx Center on Museum Road, reported Bar & Bench, with space for 40 lawyers.

"Direct-to-home television operator Dish TV will merge with Videocon d2h, creating India’s largest media company by sales. Dish TV is the market leader in the DTH space while Videocon is the third largest by subscribers. Their combined sales in FY16 were Rs 5,920 crore, more than Zee Entertainment, which had sales of Rs 5,850 crore. Both Zee and Dish are part of Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group.

The seven largest law firms in India have grown their headcounts by an average of around 20% in the last one-and-a-half years. Of those, the fastest-growing such as Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Khaitan & Co, had expanded fee-earner headcounts by 45% and 35% respectively, while others such as AZB & partners’ partnership ballooned by 75%.

Luthra & Luthra Mumbai senior banking and finance partner Vijaya Rao is now an of counsel working part time with the firm.

Luthra & Luthra Delhi projects partner Rajesh Chavda has left the firm.

Khaitan & Co topped the list of 13 domestic law firms’ M&A mandates by value of deals done with $18.7bn worth of transactions, followed by AZB & Partners which topped the list of deals by value, with 43 transactions worth $15.4bn.

Squire Patton Boggs and Luthra & Luthra advised Manpasand Beverages on its approximately $80m qualified institutions placement.

"German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer AG has won over US seeds firm Monsanto Co. with an improved takeover offer of around $66 billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time. The $128 a share deal, up from Bayer’s previous offer of $127.50 a share, is the biggest of the year so far and the largest cash bid on record. The deal will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry,” reported Mint.

"Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) on Wednesday announced the sale of its sports network TEN Sports to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) in an all cash deal for $385 million,” reported Mint.

The Supreme Court today lifted a ban on registering diesel cars, SUVs and other vehicles with an engine capacity of 2,000 cc and more in the National Capital Region after depositing one per cent of the ex-showroom price as environment compensation charge (ECC) with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).