L&L Partners

Trilegal Delhi corporate, M&A and private equity counsel Vishwanath Pratap Singh has left the firm several weeks ago and is understood to be joining Luthra & Luthra as a partner in Delhi.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal declared to the media that he had been proven right by the CBI court that acquitted all of the accused in the 2G Spectrum case yesterday after six years since the case was filed, reported The Wire.

State-owned lender Union Bank of India (UBI) has proposed to raise up to Rs 2,000 crores (approximately $312.4 million) through qualified institutional placement (QIP) with an initial offer of Rs 1,000 crores followed by a green-shoe option for another Rs 1,000 crores, as reported by Financial Express. The placement document was filed with the Indian stock exchanges on 12 December 2017. As a part of the transaction, equity shares of face value of INR 10 each of UBI were placed with QIBs, aggregating to INR 2000 Crores.

In the latest bi-annual rankings compiled by consultancy RSG India, AZB & Partners has topped the table ahead of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM), which had topped the table in 2015 when still united in one firm as Amarchand Mangaldas before their break-up (see full table below).

“The Rs 1,157-crore initial public offer (IPO) of Godrej Agrovet (GAVL) was subscribed 51.84 times times on the final day of bidding process”, reported The Economic Times. GAVL is a diversified, research & development focused agri-business company with operations across five business verticals of animal feed, crop protection, oil palm, dairy, and poultry and processed foods. The initial public offering opened for subscription on October 4th and closed on October 6th, with a price band of Rs 450-460 per share.

Luthra & Luthra senior partner Mohit Saraf, who was one of the Indian law firm promoters requesting the commerce ministry in liberalisation negotiations to prevent foreign firms from hiring Indian lawyers, said in an interview with Asia Legal Business that if foreign firms open in India, they would only be with a “very small office”.

Luthra & Luthra partner, Pranjal Bora, homegrown at the firm for 15 years, has left the firm, we have learned.

Luthra & Luthra has outbid Singaporean firms in a charity auction at a legal event in Singapore to secure the mock internship of English queen's counsel (QC) and Essex Court Chambers tenant Toby Landau, according to Bar & Bench.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) has significantly underbid competitors Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) and Luthra & Luthra to win the final rounds of blind bidding for the mammoth strategic Air India disinvestment, quoting Rs 29.9 lakh ($46,100) in fees for what is expected to be a complex series of corporate M&A deals, said sources with knowledge of the bid.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM), Crawford Bayley, Luthra & Luthra, ALMT Legal, Trilegal, Hammurabi & Solomon and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) have applied to act as legal advisors on Air India's share sale, reported the PTI.

“Cash management company CMS Info Systems has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise about Rs1,000-1,200 crore through its initial share-sale offering. The company’s initial public offer (IPO) is a pure offer for sale.” reported Livemint and Moneycontrol. CMS Info Systems, fully owned by Baring Private Equity Asia, provides cash management services, which include ATM services, and cash delivery and pick-up. Existing shareholders would sell 44.4 million equity shares, resulting in a 30% stake dilution on a post-issue basis.

Luthra & Luthra made 11 new partners having promoted six partner designates and five managing associates, and elevated partner Bikash Jhawar to the firm’s executive committee, according to Bar & Bench.

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.

"OneAssist Consumer Solutions – which provides protection for credit cards, smartphones and payment cards in case of loss or theft – has raised Rs 118 crore ($18 million) in its series-C round of financing, as per documents filed with the Registrar of Companies. The round was led by existing investors Sequoia Capital India along with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and New York-based insurance provider Assurant. The round also marks the entry of new investor, UK-based Moonstone Investments," reported the Economic Times.

Fast food chain Wow! Momo today said it has raised Rs 44 crore in Series B funding from venture capital firm Lighthouse Funds and angel investor group Indian Angel Network (IAN). The latest round of funding led by Lighthouse Funds, which invests in mid-market consumer-driven firms, values the company at Rs 230 crore, the Kolkata-based firm said in a statement. Besides, it also provided “a highly profitable” exit to the tune of Rs 10 crore to some of the IAN investors who decided to sell their shares partly/completely to Lighthouse, it added.

NUSRL Ranchi placed 26 students out of 40 who participated in the campus recruitment offered to 94 students graduating in 2017, steering entirely clear of Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) jobs this year. One out of the 40 participants found a job independently.

The President of India recently sold 10.19% of shares in HUDCO for Rs 1,209 crores ($188m) in an IPO in India and concurrent private placements outside the country (including a Rule 144A offering in the United States), as reported by The Times of India.

Recently promoted Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) Delhi disputes partner Akhil Anand will be joining Luthra & Luthra, according to authoritative sources.