In December 2009 Luthra & Luthra slipped past Khaitan & Co into second place in the initial public offering (IPO) league tables after acting on three IPOs with Khaitan bagging two instructions. Crawford Bayley took three deals and drew level with AZB & Partners as the fourth busiest Indian IPO firm, while Amarchand Mangaldas built up its lead with five mandates.

Crawford Bayley and Khaitan & Co have advised on the $400m (Rs 1,900 crore) takeover of listed Chennai pharmaceutical company Orchid Chemical & Pharmaceutical by US pharma major Hospira.

In November Amarchand Mangaldas’ Bangalore office bagged a role in four out of six initial public offerings (IPOs), and together with one instruction from Delhi has extended its lead in the top spot of the IPO league tables over Khaitan & Co, Luthra & Luthra and AZB & Partners.

Khaitan & Co is the latest firm in Delhi to start a competition law practice with the hire of J Sagar Associates (JSA) competition law and policy head Manas Chaudhuri as a partner, who was previously also additional registrar of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Khaitan & Co Bangalore and local boutique Menon Associates have advised on the MindTree acquisition of US handset maker Kyocera Wireless’ Indian arm for Rs 29 crores ($6m) and further consideration linked to future revenues.

Bharucha & Partners and Khaitan & Co have led on The Blackstone Group’s Rs 300 crore ($64m) investment in logistics company Gateway Rail Freight.

SN Gupta & Co has started up an M&A practice in Mumbai by hiring a Khaitan & Co senior associate as a partner and an associate from Hemant Sahai Associates.

The firm has also taken on new office space in Mumbai and plans to build a litigation team.

Khaitan & Co’s Mumbai office is moving from the Ballard Estate area to Lower Parel, where it has taken a lease of a large space allowing it to double in size in future.

Former Khaitan & Co partner Gauri Rasgotra has rejoined the firm’s Delhi office after working for two years in the US as the head of the George Washington University Law School’s India Studies Center.

Legally India research has revealed Amarchand Mangaldas as the top IPO dealmaker of this financial year so far, while Khaitan & Co and Luthra & Luthra are in close contest for the runner-up spot. International and domestic firms are competing in a tightly bunched mid-field of the ranking.

For the first time this year, Desai & Diwanji and Khaitan & Co are leading the third quarter Indian M&A rankings both by value and volume of deals, pushing Amarchand Mangaldas two places down mergermarket’s value league table compared to three months ago.

Amarchand Mangaldas has acted on 70 per cent of qualified institutional placements (QIPs) in the first half of this financial year, with international firms, AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Luthra & Luthra, S & R Associates and Crawford Bayley mopping up the rest.

AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co and Jones Day’s Hong Kong office have advised Jai Balaji Industries on its proposed Rs 450 crore ($94m) qualified institutional placement (QIP), which is yet to be announced.

Khaitan & Co and Trilegal have taken the first formal steps towards becoming limited liability partnerships (LLP) by registering their LLP names.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co. and Linklaters Singapore are working to help Reliance Infratel on its initial public offering (IPO), which looks to raise around US$ 1 billion (Rs. 5000 crore) from the market.

Khaitan & Co has advised on the purchase of Sri Lankan joint-venture (JV) assets, working with two of Sri Lanka’s oldest law firms.

Khaitan & Co has advised motorbike maker Harley Davidson on its entry into India after a US firm’s referral of the iconic client.

Khaitan & Co has benefited as tour operator Cox & Kings overhauled its roster of IPO advisers, dropping J Sagar Associates (JSA), which had advised on the aborted 2008 flotation.

Khaitan & Co has won a temporary victory against alleged Bollywood plagiarism in the Calcutta High Court. The firm is representing movie producer Vipul Shah against Sri Venkatesh Films over the currently screening Bengali movie Poran Jay Joliya Re, which Shah alleges is a scene-by-scene “copy-paste” of his film Namastey London.

A raft of law firms have picked up mandates on the four latest initial public offer (IPO) proposals to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), with Amarchand Mangaldas taking two issuer mandates, Luthra & Luthra acting for one company and Rajani Associates for the fourth.