Desai & Diwanji and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have sealed Essar Steel’s Rs 650 crore ($135m) purchase of Shree Precoated Steels, with JSA facing the “challenging” task of acting as joint counsel to both seller and buyer.

Advani & Company is representing the family of India’s first H1N1 virus victim against the Pune hospitals it alleges had caused her death.

AZB & Partners is relocating one of its Mumbai partners to Bangalore to ease the office’s integration process after the merger with Anup Shah’s local practice last month.

Amarchand Mangaldas has hired a Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer as a principal associate designate in its Delhi office.

Bharucha & Partners has taken over a Mumbai niche corporate practice, gaining the first new equity partner since setting up.

The Income Tax Department raided the Mumbai offices of ALMT Legal and AZB & Partners late last week looking for information related to clients and offshore transactions. The raids were not related to either of the law firms’ own tax positions.

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”.

Suman Khaitan & Co’s Kolkata alliance firm Khaitan & Partners has moved into a new office space in the city’s business district, having doubled in size since starting up less than a year ago.

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.

Khaitan & Co scored the Mahindra Holidays & Resorts listing in Mumbai, which netted the Mahindra Group around Rs. 275 crore over the past month and to many investors signalled a temporary end to the initial public offering (IPO) drought.

Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi’s joint chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO) Bithika Anand has resigned after almost 11 years with the firm, as Amarchand Delhi’s auditors have temporarily stepped in until a replacement can be found.

Tata Steel has selected an identical roster of firms to advise on its latest fundraising in London, with Amarchand Mangaldas, Talwar Thakore Associates, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy reprising their roles from the monster 2008 Corus acquisition-related rights issue.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day have advised on India’s largest initial public offer (IPO) in 18 months for Adani Power’s issue, which has so far seen four-fold oversubscription and is hoped to raise between Rs 2,700 and 3,000 crore ($558m to $620m).

Amarchand Mangaldas and Platinum Partners in Mumbai are advising on the Rs 308 crore ($64m) acquisition of a 35 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC) asset management arm by Nomura, which marks Platinum’s first instruction for the Japanese bank.

AZB & Partners has merged with Anup Shah’s Bangalore law firm, doubling AZB’s size in the city, giving it two new bases in Chennai and Hyderabad and winning a new office managing partner.

Two staff were murdered in FoxMandal Little’s Bangalore office early on Sunday morning. The firm has closed its office there for the day as a mark of respect.

Amarchand Mangaldas is moving on with its second Government divestment instruction, advising NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) on raising around Rs 1,680 crore through an initial public offering (IPO).

Clifford Chance’s lateral Amarchand Mangaldas hire has reaped rewards, as Rahul Guptan brought the firm the third Indiabulls Group mandate this year, acting for its underwriting bank.

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).