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).

Mumbai solicitors firm Crawford Bayley has created a new associate partner non-equity rung with six senior associates having been elevated to the new position, following the last partnership promotion round at the firm 10 years ago.

The firms would give preference in referring work to each other as “best friends” but would remain non-exclusive in line with Indian restrictions, Pant and Ashurst India head Richard Gubbins told Legally India.

Exclusive: Clients have been most impressed with associates at S&R Associates and Vaish Associates, according to a survey from consultancy RSG India, as Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners topped a ranking of Indian best law firms.

In the last year Indian law firms also grew lawyer headcounts by an average of 20 per cent while partner numbers only increased by 5 per cent.

Vaish Associates Advocates and Hyderabad-based law firm Harish Kumar & Associates have advised on French company De Dietrich Process Systems’ acquisition of Nile Limited’s glass-lined equipment and pressure vessels division business for Rs 58.5 crore in a slump sale.

Amarchand Mangaldas and Wadia Ghandy have advised on the latest $131m private equity (PE) funding of GMR Airports by PE firms Standard Chartered and JM Financial-Old Lane adding on to $200m raised from other PE funds in March this year.

Diwakar Agarwal has joined DLA Piper’s Middle-Eastern practice as legal director in the firm’s Dubai office to focus on India-related legal work flowing into the region.

Exclusive: DSK Legal managing partner Anand Desai is defending Aamir Khan’s latest box office bonanza Delhi Belly against a raft of obscenity claims, of which only one has so far been served on the producer.

Amarchand Mangaldas, French law firm Landwell & Associés and JDS Lawchambers have advised on Singapore-based Jacobs Engineering Group’s acquisition of India-incorporated Consulting Engineering Services (CES).

Exclusive: Amarchand Mangaldas and Phoenix Legal have advised on private equity firm India Property Fund’s buyout of 49 per cent stake in developers Ramprastha Group’s housing project Skyz for Rs 120 crore.

Desai & Diwanji has advised on the most M&A mandates in the first half of the 2011 calendar year, with AZB & Partners having advised on far fewer deals than last year but still topping the mergermarket league table by value of transactions closely followed by Talwar Thakore Associates.

Exclusive: Khaitan & Co Delhi-based associate partner Rahul Ray and senior associate Shahana Farah have left to join Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan (LKS) as partners along with their team of five lawyers with effect from 1 July 2011.

Clyde & Co senior associate Sidanth Rajagopal has left to become a Delhi-based aviation partner at Clasis Law, the UK firm’s new Indian best friend law firm that split from ALMT Legal in April of this year.

Vaish Associates has advised on IFCI Venture Capital Funds’ Rs 30 crore ($6.75m) private equity investment in Delhi-based consumer durable goods company Amber Enterprises.

Exclusive: A former Platinum Partners associate and an ex-SEBI and in-house bank lawyer have started a new Mumbai law firm specialising in capital markets and securities law called Prism Partners Advocates.

Khaitan & Co has advised the Welspun Group, which has attracted up to $494m (Rs 2,250 crore) of private equity (PE) money from Apollo Global Management advised by Amarchand Mangaldas.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners has appointed senior partner Abhijit Joshi into the newly created chief executive officer (CEO) role, overseeing strategy of the Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune offices while continuing in his client-facing duties.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Hogan Lovells have advised software research and development (R&D) services leader GlobalLogic on its acquisition of product and content engineering company Rofous Software.

Induslaw clients Helion Venture Partners, Canaan Partners and Sequoia Capital have bought an 18.1 per cent stake in legal process outsourcing (LPO) company UnitedLex for $16m (Rs 73 crore) by acquiring co-founder Ajay Agrawal’s share, who had drafted in Amarchand Mangaldas.

Khaitan & Co has advised Yes Bank on granting of Rs 84 crore rupee term loan facility to Integrated Coal Mining for the development and setting up of a 9MW solar photovoltaic plant in Kutch region of Gujarat.