AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Sullivan & Cromwell have advised on Goldman Sachs’s complete acquisition of Indian asset management company Benchmark Asset for a reported Rs 130 crore to expand its foothold in the six trillion rupee Indian fund management industry.

Khaitan & Co advised longstanding clients Leighton International in divesting its its stake in Oriental Pathways to target infrastructure development activities with joint venture partner Welspun, which in December of last year bought a 35 per cent stake of Leighton’s Indian unit for Rs 470 crore.

AZB & Partners, Desai & Diwanji, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Khaitan & Co and Japanese law firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu have advised on Hero Investments’ acquisition of Honda Motors’s 26 per cent stake in joint venture Hero Honda Motors for $851 million.

Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners have advised on Tata-owned Indian Hotels’ minority stake sale in subsidiary Roots Corporation to Singapore-based Omega TC Holdings for Rs 150 crore.

AZB & Partners, Kochhar & Co, Trilegal, Zeus Law Associates, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have advised on public listed Vishal Retail’s slump sale to private equity (PE) firm TPG and the Shriram Group for Rs 70 crore.

AZB & Partners and Norton Rose’s African merger partner have advised India’s Essar Group on its majority stake take-over of Zimbabwe’s state-owned steel unit Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) for $750m.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Japanese law firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune have advised on Asia’s largest life insurance company Nippon Life Insurance Co buying $680m (Rs 3,062 crore) or 26 per cent in Reliance Insurance, marking it the largest ever foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Indian insurance sector.

Vaish Associates Advocates and Desai & Diwanji have advised on the complete buy-out of Premier Tissues (India) Limited by Avantha Group’s Ballarpur Industries for Rs 42 crore ($9.3m).

Shearman & Sterling, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Salans, Linklaters and Clifford Chance have advised on Tata Steel’s sale of Teesside Cast Products’s (TCP’s) assets to Thailand’s largest steel producer Sahaviriya Steel for $469m.

AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have advised on GVK Airport Holdings’ 13.5 per cent stake acquisition of Bid Services’ shares in Mumbai International Airport to become the largest shareholder in the consortium of airport operators.

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.

Kochhar & Co has won state-owned gas and transmission company GAIL’s contract for rendering of legal services over other co-bidders and qualifiers of technical round such as Amarchand Mangaldas, Trilegal, Singhania & Partners, Fox Mandal and APJ – SLG, said the firm.

Phoenix Legal and Hogan Lovells’ Japanese office have advised advised Japan’s Sojitz Corporation on its joint venture with South Indian business conglomerate Archean Group top operate a marine chemicals plant in India.

AZB & Partners, Talwar Thakore & Associates, Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters and Vinson & Elkins have advised on oil major British Petroleum’s (BP) record acquisition of 30 per cent of 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts (including the KG D6 block) operated by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for a consideration of $7.2bn (Rs 32,500 crore).

Amarchand and MMB Legal with London firms Nabarro and Taylor Wessing on complex deal between Infrastructure India and Guggenheim involving AIM fundraising and two asset acquisitions.

ALMT Legal partner Hitesh Jain advised the organising company of Canadian crooner Bryan Adams’ India tour that kicked off in Mumbai and Pune last weekend.

Vaish Associates has advised Pune-based Infospectrum on the sale of its outsourced product development (OPD) business to Persistent Systems, advised in-house by its company secretary and legal head.

Clifford Chance joined hands with J Sagar Associates (JSA) and AZB & Partners to jointly advise Bayer Healthcare on its JV with Cadila Healthcare.

Hemant Sahai Associates (HSA) acted as sole legal advisor on a micro finance investment by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in Delhi-based organisation Invest India Micro Pension Services Private Limited (IIMPS) raising roughly $1m for retirement pension plans and other savings.

Exclusive: Majmudar & Co and Desai & Diwanji have advised on the 50 per cent stake sale of Rolta India’s shares in joint venture company Shaw Rolta Limited to partner Stone & Webster for an aggregate $35.5m in consideration.