Reed Smith, Amarchand team up on Standard sale

Reed Smith Richards Butler has strengthened its relationship with Indian firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co by teaming up on the acquisition of Standard Chartered's Indian asset management business.

Reed Smith got the nod on the deal after Amarchand was instructed by quoted Indian company Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) on the acquisition.

The firm's London partner Roy Montague-Jones gave English law advice, working alongside Amarchand Mumbai partner Jaya Singhania on a deal that saw the client pay $205m (£101.69m) for Standard Chartered Trustee and Standard Chartered Asset Management.

Montague-Jones said: "This was the Indian asset management business of Standard Chartered and it was originally sold to another foreign buyer last year, but that ran into regulatory problems.

"Amarchand is a firm we know very well - we've been focusing on the Indian market for about 10 years. We've done transactional and disputes work with them and have also done a number of financings under English law for Indian clients."

IDFC is a major player in the Indian financial services market, with business interests including project finance, asset management, investment banking, institutional broking and advisory services.

Montague-Jones said that given the nature of the company's business it was likely it would need English law input in the future, adding Reed Smith hoped to pick up further instructions.

Standard Chartered turned to Slaughter and May practice partner-in-waiting Paul Olney for advice.