L&L Partners

A wrap of the past weeks’ major deals and their advisers, featuring all the usual suspects plus Rajani, LexCounsel, Prism, HSB, SJ Law, Travers, Nabarro, DLA and more…

Mirah Hospitality with Desai & Diwanji; Amarchand, Rajani, Khaitan on $350m Welspun PE; Luthra in EU pharma tax case; ELP AP tax victory for MAS-GMR; Khaitan-Clifford on StanChart loan; SRGR-KJSV project; JSA-Prolegal consultancy.

Independence is a quality as prized by lawyers as it was celebrated by India yesterday. But as firms grow larger, they get more dependent on each of their partners while subsuming the individual into the collective.

Luthra & Luthra has promoted three Delhi lawyers to partnership and will buy German-made cars for five partners, as a raft of associates have been promoted to senior and managing associate levels.

Khaitan & Co advised on private equity firm Blackstone’s Rs 150 crore investment in business and banking technology platform Financial Inclusion Network and Operations Limited (FINO), which was advised by Luthra & Luthra.

Luthra & Luthra and Wadia Ghandy have advised on a minority stake acquisition in Ravi Jaipuria Corp’s Varun Beverages International by the private equity arm of Standard Chartered for Rs 250 crore ($56m).

Exclusive: At least 56 NLU-Jodhpur students have been placed in law firm or desk-based jobs in a batch of 87 students, unofficial sources have confirmed, with Luthra & Luthra hiring 14 students ahead of Trilegal with five, and one student securing a training contract with international firm Allen & Overy.

Breaking: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ruled on the first ever case to enter its doors, levying nominal fines against prominent film producers in the case brought by Luthra & Luthra on behalf of cinema owners two years ago.

Exclusive: Nalsar Hyderabad held its first day of recruitments for the 2012 graduating batch one week after NLSIU with Luthra emerging as top recruiter followed by Amarchand, AZB, Khaitan, Trilegal and Allen & Overy.

Amarchand Mangaldas has taken an early lead in the 2011 Indian first quarter project finance rankings, racking up higher deal values than both Link Legal and last year’s busiest firm Luthra & Luthra combined, followed by Trilegal and Fox Mandal.

Breaking: Amarchand Mangaldas Bangalore, Luthra & Luthra and Clifford Chance have led on Petronas International’s $2.1bn exit of Vedanta Resources-part-owned Cairn India, according to lawyers on the deal.

Exclusive: Amarchand Mangaldas has lost ground in its lead over Luthra & Luthra and surprise performer AZB & Partners in the initial public offering (IPO) league tables for the 2010-11 financial year, while DLA Piper came from nowhere to top the rankings of foreign firms ahead of Dorsey & Whitney and Jones Day.

Exclusive: Against a background of slowing markets in qualified institutional placements (QIPs), Amarchand Mangaldas has retained a strong lead in Legally India’s QIP league table for the 2010-2011 fiscal despite its deal volume dropping by half, while Luthra & Luthra and Crawford Bayley scaled ahead of Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners.

Exclusive: Seven law firms have swooped on NLSIU Bangalore campus and students earlier than ever, with 29 students due to graduate in 2012 having accepted law firm jobs.

Luthra & Luthra has advised Indian multiplex owner PVR Cinemas on its collaboration with Canadian entertainment technology company IMAX Corporation to install and maintain state-of-the-art IMAX theatre systems, which was advised by Agarwal Jetley & Company.

The semi finals of the ongoing 3^rd SILF-Khushal Inter Law Firms Cricket Cup – 2011 (“Tournament”), played last Saturday, saw the two more deserving sides notch up contrasting victories to set up a dream final.

Luthra & Luthra has advised Kohlapar-based Ratnakar Bank in raising Rs 720 crore ($160m) of equity funding from institutional investors and a private equity (PE) consortium including US-based Cartica Capital, which drafted in Khaitan & Co.

Luthra & Luthra has advised a Power Finance Corporation-led consortium of 27 lenders to fund KSK Mahanadi’s Rs 16,190 crore power project in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Luthra & Luthra and DLA Piper have bagged the 12,500 crore ($2.75bn) follow-on share sale of ONGC, beating five other law firms in a competitive tender, with Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi winning the mandate for the bankers.