Trilegal and Link Legal have advised power producer Caparo Energy’s $ 1.28bn contract for supply of wind power projects equipment with India’s largest turbine manufacturers Suzlon India.

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: Link Legal has absorbed top-ranked mid-market capital markets boutique Zenith India Lawyers, with erstwhile Zenith managing partner Raj Rani Bhalla relocating from Gurgaon to the young Mumbai office to increase growth.

Project finance law firms R&A Legal and India Law Services have advised on the Rs 970 crore ($210m) term loan and bank guarantee between Navayuga Engineering Company Limited and Bank of Baroda led bank consortium for the financing and development of India’s largest private sector port at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Delhi-based law firm R&A Legal, project finance firms India Law Services and MV Kini & Co have advised the borrower, bank consortium and NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) respectively in the construction of India’s longest elevated expressway in Chennai.

Luthra & Luthra was the most active project finance legal advisers both by value and volume in the first half of 2010, followed by India Law Services, SJ Law Advocates & Solicitors, Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners and SN Gupta & Co, according to data compiled for Legally India by data provider Dealogic.

Link Legal has advised a GMR-Malaysia Airports consortium on winning the contract to build and expand the Male Maldives airport for around $300m (Rs 1,390 crore).

Link Legal has put pan-Indian growth further on top of its agenda, having opened up a new Mumbai office by relocating a young Delhi partner and hiring former GVK in-house counsel V Akshay Babu as its second partner in its Hyderabad office.

Amarchand Mangaldas Bangalore advised Kalanithi Maran on his Rs 740 crore purchase of Link Legal-advised low-cost carrier SpiceJet from two sellers, which were represented by AZB Mumbai and Naveen Goel Law Offices in Delhi.

Amarchand Mangaldas, Crawford Bayley and Luthra & Luthra, and young firms Axon Partners LLP, Link Legal and S&R Associates, are bidding for the role of legal advisor to the government in the disinvestment of state-owned Engineers India Limited (EIL) which is set to happen through a follow-on public offer in July.

Mumbai projects boutique India Law Services (ILS) has advised the lender consortium of bankers in three project finance transactions opposite Trilegal, one in-house counsel and Delhi-based Hammurabi & Solomon acting for the borrower companies.

One third of top infrastructure boutique India Law Services has joined ALMT Legal in Mumbai, with partner Ishtiaq Ali set to start up ALMT’s projects and infrastructure practice.

Link Legal has promoted senior associate Ajay Sawhney to partnership in its corporate and aviation practice and has hired a senior associate projects lawyer from in-house.

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.

Dua Associates is opening an office in Singapore this month with the former Asia Pacific general counsel of Procter & Gamble. The firm has also hired two lateral equity partners for its Delhi office.

FoxMandal Little Delhi partner K.A. Najmi has joined project finance specialist firm India Law Services as a partner to head its Delhi office.

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).