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.

Kochhar & Co and AZB & Partners have advised venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Headland Capital respectively on their Rs 70 crore equity investment in mobile value added services (VAS) provider ValueFirst Messaging.

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.

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).

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

AZB & Partners was the busiest private equity legal advisor of 2010 ahead of ALMT Legal and Indus Law tied in second place followed by DSK Legal and Tatva Legal. Amarchand Mangaldas and Trilegal came in fourth and fifth places respectively, according to a volume-based league table by data provider Venture Intelligence.

From today Indian law firms will have to get used to AZB being officially single again, Legally India can reveal.

Clifford Chance and AZB broke off their best friendship late last night, which means that global CC rivals will again be more comfortable approaching AZB with referrals.

“I don’t think there is any single international firm out there which has the ability to sustain any firm like ours [in terms of referrals],” one AZB lawyer summed up eloquently last week.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners and Clifford Chance broke off their best friend relationship yesterday night to become “good friends” after both firms saw fewer referrals than expected and legal market liberalisation became more unlikely than when they first entered into the relationship two years ago.

Exclusive: Luthra & Luthra has maintained its lead in the project finance domain as the top Indian and second-ranked law firm globally by deal volumes. Amarchand Mangaldas, S J Law Advocates, India Law Services and AZB & Partners followed up in the domestic rankings, where 163 projects worth $81.4bn were completed in India in 2010, according to data provider Dealogic.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners has topped Legally India’s 2010-2011 quarterly initial public offering (IPO) league table taking it to second place in the financial year IPO rankings to date behind Amarchand Mangaldas and overtaking Luthra & Luthra, which did not file any IPOs in the last quarter.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have advised India’s sixth largest IT firm Patni Computer Systems that was bought by Apax Partners-backed iGate for $1.22bn, which drafted in Khaitan & Co and Kirkland & Ellis as legal advisers.

Lexygen and Linklaters advised a Carlyle Group-led consortium of the losing bidders, where Amarchand Mangaldas is understood to have provided the advice to the bid’s merchant banks.

AZB & Partners Bangalore office has promoted senior associate Anind Thomas to its partnership.

One-and-a-half years after merging with Anup S Shah law firm in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, AZB & Partners and Anup Shah and his firm have decided to part ways as “best friends”.

AZB & Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas have advised on a majority of M&A mandates out of 26India-related transactions in November, according to data aggregated by mergermarket.

AZB & Partners and US firms Foley Lardner and Baker & Daniels have advised on the Rs 450 crore ($100m) acquisition of US hair product company Namasté Laboratories by Dabur India’s US unit company Dermoviva Skin Essentials Inc.

After a long slumber, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fired its first warning shot across the bow of corporate India this week, allegedly slapping Kingfisher Airlines with a maximum fine of Rs 1 crore for not having played along with investigations.

Clifford Chance India head Chris Wyman has retired from the law after spending 16 months on secondment at the offices of Indian best friend AZB & Partners. Clifford Chance Singapore office head Geraint Hughes will succeed Wyman as India practice head.