Nihar Mody, the co-founding partner of Platinum Partners and head of the Mumbai office, has retired at age 51 last week.

Platinum Partners has expanded with a second partner in Mumbai, hiring Thakker & Thakker partner Gautam Bhat.

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.