Corporate

Link Legal, Gagrats bag Jet-GMR fleet maintenance JV

Airplane
Airplane
Mumbai firm Gagrats and Link Legal have advised on the joint venture (JV) between Jet Airways and GMR Hyderabad International Airport and Malaysian Aerospace Engineering.

Vaish sets up in Bangalore, lines up South India offices

Bangalore-vidhana-soudha
Bangalore-vidhana-soudha
Vaish Associates has opened up a Bangalore office, hiring an ex-Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and lawyer to help it grow to 24 lawyers within a year in the city.

FoxMandal brings environment law firm on board

tree-hdr_by_Paulobrandao
tree-hdr_by_Paulobrandao
Environmental law specialist and Trust Legal founding partner Sudhir Mishra has joined FoxMandal Little (FML) Delhi as a consultant to expand the firm’s environmental law practice.

JSA partner sets up own shop again, inspired

bombay-high-court-oval
bombay-high-court-oval
Jyoti Sagar Associates (JSA) partner Nishit Dhruva and two of his team have left after 18 months with the firm, restarting his former litigation and conveyancing practice with plans to turn full-service.

Argus, NDA on Italy-India M&A; ALMT for Reliance

cables_joshuadavisphotography_com
cables_joshuadavisphotography_com
Argus Partners and Nishith Desai Associates have advised on the Rs 200 crore ($43m) sale of Ravin Cables to an Italian cable manufacturer, while ALMT Legal has scored its first mandate for a Reliance fund, which was one of Ravin’s shareholders.

Start-up scores big on $200m power bond issue

power-line-by_abooth202
power-line-by_abooth202
Delhi start-up Axon Partners has landed a role next to Crawford Bayley and Linklaters on Jaiprakash Power Venture’s surprise $200m (Rs 920 crore) convertible bond issue.

Trio of firms on C Series VC

computer-tower-innards_by_A-Belani
computer-tower-innards_by_A-Belani
Mumbai boutique firm Sand Hill Counsel and the Bangalore offices of Induslaw Advocates and Nishith Desai & Associates (NDA) have assisted IT customer support services provider iYogi in raising $15m of venture capital (VC) funding to expand its team of global tech experts.

Crawford Bayley, Amarchand, FoxMandal, Luthra profit from privatisations

mining_thumb
mining_thumb
Crawford Bayley has picked up the latest Government disinvestment mandate for India’s single largest iron ore producer and exporter National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), following Amarchand Mangaldas, Fox Mandal Little and Luthra & Luthra bagging the three other disinvestments of the past four months.

IP start-up gets Swiss-connection with senior joiner

geneva-lake-by-pearbiter
geneva-lake-by-pearbiter
Ex-FoxMandal Little start-up boutique IP Gurus is moving to a larger office and has hired the former in-house senior counsel of luxury goods group Richemont and an associate in Geneva.

Phoenix bundles and sells 42k micro-loans

bank-piggy_by_Alan-cleaver
bank-piggy_by_Alan-cleaver
Phoenix Legal has acted on a Rs 308m ($6.5m) microfinance securitisation of 42,000 micro-loans for IFMR Capital.

Khaitan & Co in record Mumbai land buy

factory-abandoned_by-Maximo_lopez
factory-abandoned_by-Maximo_lopez
Khaitan & Co and Wadhwa Group’s in-house counsel have closed Mumbai’s largest land deal of the year, in the 18.18-acre land purchase in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai from Hindustan Composites (HCL) for Rs 571 crore ($125m).

Amarchand unbeatable in QIP league Q3; 6 firms chase

stock_exchange_chart_th
stock_exchange_chart_th

Amarchand Mangaldas has significantly expanded its lead in the qualified institutional placement (QIP) stakes, acting on eight out of 18 QIPs filed in the third quarter of 2009. AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co bagged three mandates each, with J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Crawford Bayley picking up two each.

$1.8bn Aircel towers deal to Amarchand, Wadia

mobile_phone_tower-by-Kiwanja_th
mobile_phone_tower-by-Kiwanja_th
Wadia Ghandy Mumbai and Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi have helped GTL Infrastructure in acquiring Aircel’s telecom tower business in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 8,400 crore ($1.84bn).

JSA enters indirect tax fray with ex-Revenue man

Indirect Tax
Indirect Tax
J Sagar Associates (JSA) has engaged the former chairman of the Customs and Central Excise Settlement Commission Jogendra Singh as an indirect tax senior adviser, making it the second senior expansion of JSA’s tax practice in two months.

Wadia takes ELP Masters' Cricket Cup crown

Mumbai ELP Law Firm Cricket Masters 2010
Mumbai ELP Law Firm Cricket Masters 2010
Wadia Ghandy won the Mumbai ELP Masters Cricket Cup 2010 yesterday in a reversal of last year’s final against Economic Laws Practice’s (ELP) powerful batting line-up.

24-year-old NUJS student starts up LPO

Offshore Research Partners Ashish Arun
Offshore Research Partners Ashish Arun
A final-year NUJS Kolkata student has set up and is running a legal process outsourcing (LPO) firm of seven lawyers.

New Mumbai office for Hariani & Co

Hariani & Co Ameet Hariani
Hariani & Co Ameet Hariani
Hariani & Co has moved into a new office almost twice the previous size in Mumbai offering, after one of its partners relocated from Bangalore.

Dua and Tatva speak out about break-up, confirm 50 leavers

iceberg-by-Molechaser
iceberg-by-Molechaser
Dua Associates has circulated a statement to members of the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) after 41 Dua lawyers and nine partners are now confirmed to have joined breakaway firm Tatva Legal. Tatva has also responded with its first public statement.

Desai & Diwanji rules 2009 M&A roost with Amarchand, AZB, Khaitan

M&A League tables
M&A League tables
Desai & Diwanji acted on 24 M&A deals in the 2009 calendar year, placing it at the top of data provider mergermarket’s M&A league table by volume. Amarchand Mangaldas topped the table by value, having advised on M&A deals worth $6.4bn in 2009, while Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners also gave a strong showing.

UAE-based law firm to open Kerala offices

Kerala
Kerala
United Arab Emirate (UAE) firm Musthafa & Almana is starting up to four offices in Kerala and South India.