Deals in brief 17 deals and cases in brief this week, spanning M&A, a raft of financings, private equity, debt and equity capital markets and litigation.
Exclusive: AZB & Partners Delhi office advised NBFC Religare Finvest in which private equity firm NYLIM Jacob Ballas purchased a Rs 200 crore ($39.8m) stake, which was advised by S&R Associates.
Domestic M&A league table by deal values (source mergermarket, graphic: Mint)“)Mint exclusive: India’s corporate law firms advised on fewer and smaller mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the 2011 calendar year than in 2010, which affected revenues but still kept firms such as AZB & Partners, Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Desai & Diwanji busy with a lion’s share of work.
imageExclusive: AZB & Partners Mumbai and Khaitan & Co’s Delhi office have scooped the mandate to advise on Reliance Industries bid to invest in two Network18 subsidiaries for more than Rs 1,500 crore ($290m).
AZB's Vineetha MG explains the effect of domestic and international anti-corruption laws on Indian companiesAlthough a plethora of Indian anti-corruption and bribery laws exist, many are not very effective and foreign rules such as the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) could have unpredictable consequences for Indian companies, said AZB & Partners, UK barrister’s chamber No5 and chartered accountancy BDO.
MnA-pie_lrg Desai & Diwanji has again reclaimed its throne as the busiest M&A firm in India having acted on 33 deals in the first three quarters of the year with Khaitan & Co also laying down improved M&A figures, while AZB & Partners, Talwar Thakore Associates and S&R Associates harvested the biggest value deals, also benefitting Linklaters and Allen & Overy.
imageFour senior counsel and Naik in SLP against immovable property rental service tax; AZB Bangalore Muthoot debentures; Universal-Wadia Ghandy Pizza Hut deal; Infrastructure India windfarm buy with 3 foreign firms and KhaiCo, MMB; ANM for Godrej in cyber squatter; Rs 200 crore P&A Kemrock buy; Amarchand Essar delisting.
imageExclusive: Vishnu Jerome, who resigned from AZB & Partners in June, has started up the law firm Alliance Legal with fellow NLSIU Bangalore graduates Priyanka Roy and Ravi Kumar from J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Talwar Thakore Associates (TTA) respectively.
The Mouse smilesExclusive: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has cleared the $454m takeover of UTV by Disney today after 25 calendar days, with J Sagar Associates (JSA), AZB & Partners and Dhall Law Chambers advising.
image European publishing giant enters India with Associated Law Advisers, Universal Legal for Chennai e-publisher, Khaitan gets close to HDFC’s new investment banking head, and more…
image J Sagar Associates (JSA) and US firm Covington & Burling advised Disney, which is seeking to buy-out its Indian partners in the UTV joint venture for $454m, with AZB & Partners advising UTV’s promoters.
Monopoly2_car-by_Mark_StrozierExclusive: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dealt with the first M&A referred to it, clearing within 18 days the proposed takeover by Reliance Industrial Infrastructure of Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company, advised by AZB & Partners and Talwar Thakore Associates respectively.
imageExclusive: Desai & Diwanji Gurgaon advised Franklin Templeton on its purchase of 20 per cent of Mumbai designer clothes retailer Kimaya Fashions, which was advised by AZB & Partners Mumbai office.
Round up of the latest and most legal from around the web. - Supreme Court: Don’t open our judgments on flimsy grounds [ The Hindu ] - Deadline for Greater Noida ‘hi tech court’ with video conferencing and servers was March 2010, now slated to be done in two months [ Times of India ] - “A Challenge,...
imageExclusive: 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.
