A quick glance at this summer’s deals show that US firms in particular are getting stuck into India’s booming capital markets economy. Dorsey & Whitney is emerging as one of the leading international firms for Indian IPOs, having bagged six floats in the last year. According to a survey by Asian Legal Business, Jones Day featured on four floats, while Davis Polk & Wardwell featured on one.
Howard Kennedy, which having advised on this summer’s £27.5m AIM float of Eros (the world’s largest distributor of Bollywood films) in July, is planning a networking trip to Mumbai and Delhi to drum up additional business sometime early next year. The firm is also currently in the early stages of advising an Indian property fund on another AIM floatation.
Herbert Smith is also making progress in both India and China. After recently providing Hong Kong law advice to Industrial & Commercial Bank of China on its $12bn (£6.41bn) flotation, it also bagged a lead role advising lenders Royal Bank of Scotland and International Finance Corporation on the $1bn (£533.84m) financing facility for Cairn Energy’s oil field development and production in India. McGrigors advised Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy.
And It is not just law firms tooling up in India: Diageo finalised a major joint venture arrangement with Indian drinks company Radico Khaitan and has appointed its first Indian-based counsel, Chetan Nagendra from local firm Amarchand Mangaldas, adding four Asia-Pacific lawyers to its in-house team.
