AZB & Partners

The firm jumps into the ‘Recommended’ tier in Investment funds and Labour and employment. Piyush Mishra, insolvency and restructuring specialist, and litigator Anoj Menon joined from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Desai & Diwanji, respectively.

Banking and finance  

Work highlights 

Structured a facility for Overseas Private Investment Corporation to finance ReNew Wind Energy (TN 2)’s solar plant and transmission line in Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka, a southwest state. 

Key clients 

Deutsche Bank, IFC, Overseas Private Investment Corporation  

Capital markets 

Work highlights 

Advised the lead managers on Tata Steel’s Re128 billion rights issue, and a concurrent issue of unlinked fully paid and partially paid equity shares, an innovative feature of the deal. 

Represented ATC Telecom Infrastructure on its debenture issuance of up to Re42 billion ($610 million) to be used in a third-party acquisition. 

Advised on numerous equity capital market deals: The New India Assurance’s IPO (advised issuer), HDFC Standard Life Insurance’s IPO (issuer), SBI Life Insurance’s IPO (promoter and selling shareholder), Bandhan Bank’s IPO (selling shareholders), AU Small Finance Bank’s IPO (issuer), and Mahindra Logistics’ IPO (book running leader managers). 

Key clients 

Galaxy Surfactants, HDFC, Indiabulls Ventures, Muthoot Capital Services, Patel Infrastructure, Tata Steel 

Competition/antitrust 

Work highlights 

Assisting Google on the Competition Commission of India’s well-publicised anti-competitive investigation of the company’s online search and advertising activities in India. 

Representing Toyota before the Supreme Court in an appeal of the Competition Appellate Tribunal’s decision about the automaker’s alleged abuse of dominance. 

Advised telecommunications companies Bharti Airtel and Telenor on their merger clearance with the  Competition Commission of India. The deal is indicative of industry consolidation. 

Key clients 

Berger International, Bharti Airtel, Google, Mercedes Benz, PotashCorp, SoftBank, Tata Motors, Telenor, Toyota 

Construction 

Work highlights 

Instructed by Siemens, the firm conducted due diligence on a leasehold right and title on a Re6.1 billion ($88.6 million) Mumbai industrial property, and negotiated with bidders of the deed.  

Key clients 

Siemens  

Corporate and M&A 

Work highlights 

Assisted AAR International on its joint venture with Indamer, a large domestic aviation company. The new firm is building an aircraft heavy maintenance facility in Maharashtra, an important development in India’s commercial aviation market. 

Advised Cisco on its acquisition of 47Line Technologies, a cloud platform solution. 

Represented American Tower Corporation (ATC) in the Vodafone Idea merger, which will create India’s largest telecommunications company worth about Re1.5 trillion. ATC will acquire the passive infrastructure units, such as cell towers, of Vodafone and Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services. 

Key clients 

AAR International, American Tower Corporation, Arrow Electronics, Berger International, Bharti Airtel, Cisco, Silgan, SoftBank, Yatra, Tata Chemicals  

Dispute resolution 

Work highlights 

Arbitrated in the London Court of International Arbitration for Tata Sons against NTT Docomo in a more than $1 billion matter about how to enforce a put option clause. 

Key clients 

Gleneagles Development, Rishima SA Investments, Tata Sons 

Intellectual property 

Work highlights 

Conducting due diligence for Havells India on its IP assets and structured its Re16 billion acquisition of Lloyd Electrical and Engineering’s consumer durables unit. 

Representing US lifestyle and performance footwear company Skechers before the Delhi High Court in a trade mark infringement case about counterfeit apparel sold on a popular e-commerce site. 

Key clients 

Havells India, Philip Morris, Skechers, Torrent Pharmaceutical 

Investment funds 

Work highlights 

Assisted the credit team at Bain Capital to create a joint venture with Piramal to form a $1 billion distressed asset investment fund. It will focus on restructuring opportunities in all sectors of India except real estate.  

Working with Canadian pension fund Caisse de depôt et placement du Quebec’s Ivanhoé Cambridge to structure a real estate investment platform with Piramal as an onshore alternative investment fund. 

Key clients 

Aavishkaar Venture Management Services, Bain Capital, Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors, IFC, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Reliance Industries 

Labour and employment 

Work highlights 

Informed policymakers on regulatory gaps around the world blocking effective migrant integration, providing an analysis of Indian migrant laws and regulations for the World Bank Group. 

Regularly assisting global companies with restructuring employee compensation, advising on the impact of maternity benefit regulations and preparing for defence proceedings before provident fund enforcement authorities. 

Key clients 

Accenture, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Infosys, Nvidia, SAP, Star India  

Private equity 

Work highlights 

Advised KKR on its investment in Korean auto parts supplier LS Automotive and KCF Technologies. 

Advised Sequoia Capital on its acquisition of Face Cosmetics, a popular Canadian brand in India, from Everstone Capital. 

Assisted SoftBank Vision Fund’s $2.5 billion investment in Flipkart, which Walmart has been subsequently pursuing by offering $16 billion for a 77%-stake. 

Key clients 

Blackstone, IFC, KKR, Mount Kellett Capital Management, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, WestBridge Capital 

Regulatory 

Work highlights 

Assisted Acciona Energy with the regulations related to the Electricity Act impacting construction projects in India.  

Key clients 

Acciona Energy India, Asian Development Bank, Bharti Airtel, Blackstone, Emerald Media, Health Care at Home India 

Restructuring and insolvency 

Work highlights 

Involved in some of the largest insolvency proceedings under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, including representing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against Essar Steel India and Videocon Industries after the RBI directed banks to refer 12 very large distressed companies into insolvency proceedings according to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.  

Key clients 

Alvarez and Marsal, BDO India, Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, Reserve Bank of India, Sumit Binani 

Tax 

Work highlights 

Helped Pepsi reduce its transfer pricing about advertising, marketing and promotion expenses by 40% to Re3.4 billion ($50 million) after appearing before the revenue department’s Dispute Resolution Panel. 

Key clients 

Bharti Group, Dow Jones & Co, InterGlobe Enterprises, McKinsey & Company, National Basketball Association, News Corporation, Pepsi, Star Group 

Client feedback 

“Efficient, easy to do business with, thorough and detailed, supportive, available whenever required day or night, hospitable when we needed a  location to meet or work from during the course of our project with them.” – Regulatory, Restructuring and insolvency 

“Quick return of email, cost effective and great knowledge of what is important for their clients” – Corporate and M&A, Labour and employment, Privacy and data protection 

“Along with their strong focus and expertise in the fund management space, they give practical advice and understand commercial nuances very well.” – Investment funds      

“This firm has some of the most responsive and knowledgeable lawyers I have worked with in India. They propose creative and thoughtful solutions and strategies that take our business realities into account. They know the law very well, and regularly provide excellent and reasonable advice.” – Intellectual property 

“One stop solution as they have good tie-ups with investigation firms and hence, are able to offer end to end service/solution. Experienced professionals who can provide rationale and pros and cons of each step. Open for challenges for new things that come up.” – Intellectual property 

“Sharp, to the point and practical.” - Ganesh Rao

“Extremely knowledgeable.” - Nilang Desai

“Incredible, fantastic and awesome!” - Rina Goyal

“Friendly and accessible.” - Suharsh Sinha

“Excellent and extremely supportive with this very delicate matter.” - Sunila Awasthi

“Akhilesh is extremely knowledgeable and responsive. I never worry about our matters in India because I know Akhilesh is providing the best possible advocacy. He has no weaknesses that I have seen.” - Akhilesh Kumar Rai

“Excellent.” - Nohid Nooreyezdan