L&L Partners

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.

A senior associate has rejoined Lall & Sethi Advocates as partner after a two-year stint at Luthra & Luthra.

Bangalore headquartered Universal Legal has hired a Luthra & Luthra senior associate as a Delhi partner while the firm prepares to open in Mumbai as a precursor to becoming a fully national firm.

Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra have benefited the most from the dash to hit the markets by month-end, as 16 companies filed draft initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses in the last two weeks.

Luthra & Luthra has made offers to five further students from National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore after what is likely to be its last campus recruitment visit for the year.

Luthra & Luthra has hired FoxMandal Little corporate partner Vineet Aneja in Delhi.

Luthra & Luthra is continuing its run of on-campus hires after visiting NUJS Kolkata and making further offers to NALSAR Hyderabad students, with the firm set to visit and recruit from NLSIU Bangalore next week.

Luthra & Luthra is advising ArcelorMittal on its Rs 500 crore ($103m) stake acquisition in Mumbai-based Steel company Uttam Galva Steels.

Luthra & Luthra has hired two more India-returnees, making up four international hires in only three months. Ashwin Sapra joins as a group head from an in-house position at a US pharmaceutical company and Piyush Mishra has rejoined the firm as a group head from Allen & Overy (A&O).

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.

Luthra & Luthra has advised long-standing client NDTV in the Supreme Court against allegations that its so-called BMW hit-and-run case sting operation was in contempt of court and amounted to "trial by media".

Luthra & Luthra has hired an Amarchand Mangaldas senior associate, as targeting expansion in Bangalore. The firm also paid out bonuses last week and increased base salaries earlier this year but it has delayed its announced lockstep conversion process until the end of the year.

Luthra & Luthra and S&R Associates acted as Indian counsel in Indian mining company Sterlite Industries' $1.5bn (Rs 7,200 crore) equity fundraising, with Latham & Watkins and Shearman & Sterling handling the international advice.

Luthra & Luthra, India Law Services and Amarchand Mangaldas have leapfrogged to the top of global project finance deal rankings over the last six months, benefiting from Indian project finance deals rising by 158 per cent against the same period last year to almost $32bn (Rs 154,000 crore).

Kanga & Co Mumbai partner Dhaval Vussonji is leading the team for the original bidder Bharati Shipyard, which already owns a 19.5 per cent stake in Great Offshore.

The Competition Commission of India has begun its first cartel investigation since it was granted full powers, following Luthra & Luthra's petition on behalf of the multiplex cinemas over their long-running dispute with Bollywood film producers and distributors.

Luthra & Luthra partners have agreed to completely overhaul their management and partnership structure, which will see up to six current salaried partners enter the newly opened equity on a lockstep system.

J Sagar and Associates (JSA) and Luthra & Luthra have completed the Rs 1,750 crore ($368m) takeover of mining company Dempo Group by London-listed Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sesa Goa.

Amarchand, Ashurst and Luthra & Luthra have restarted their work on the exhumed Oil India initial public offering (IPO), which the government hopes will fill its coffers by up to Rs 2,400 crore ($500m).