AZB & Partners

Managing Partners: Zia Mody & Ajay Bahl

Number of partners: 112

Number of lawyers: 450+

Languages: Chinese; English; Japanese

Firm Overview:

AZB & Partners, one of India’s premier law firms, was founded in 2004 and has since received wide acclaim within the legal sphere. A pan–India law firm, AZB is spread across 6 offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Pune.

Main Areas of Practice:  

Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Ventures & General Corporate:

Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and general corporate transactions are at the core of the firm’s practice. The corporate group is consistently ranked as a league–table leader, in terms of both, deal volume and deal size. The team regularly advises on complex domestic/international arrangements, intricate commercial agreements, hostile corporate situations resulting in settlements/ litigations and restructuring/reorganisations.

Contacts: Zia Mody, Ajay Bahl, Anil Kasturi, Ashwath Rau, Darshika Kothari, Gautam Saha, Srinath Dasari

Private Equity:

The firm represents the world’s largest private equity firms in establishing their India presence and continues to work on a number of marquee deals, ranging from complex cross–border and highly structured deals in regulated sectors, many of which have been the first of their kind in India. The group’s experience includes advising on efficient investment routing/exit, tax planning, individual investments with portfolio companies, monitoring/maintaining investments, capital requirements of a portfolio company and buyout deals.

Contacts: Zia Mody, Ajay Bahl, Anil Kasturi, Ashwath Rau, Darshika Kothari, Gautam Saha, Srinath Dasari, Vaidhyanadhan Iyer, Vinati Kastia

Banking & Finance:

The firm advises its clients on a gamut of financial products and services. It caters to domestic/ international lenders and borrowers on a broad spectrum of topics, including, regulatory issues, banking products/services and risk/capital management.

Contacts: Bahram N. Vakil, Anand Shah, Gautam Saha, Nilang Desai, Shameek Chaudhuri

Insolvency & Bankruptcy:

AZB is considered a market leader in this space, owing to its success with managing complex refinancing, restructuring and insolvency matters. It represents domestic/international banks, funds, distressed companies, acquirers and industry professionals. Its lawyers have been involved in drafting India’s newly introduced Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code.

Contacts: Bahram N. Vakil, Nilang Desai, Suharsh Sinha, Shameek Chaudhuri

Infrastructure & Project Finance:

The firm’s strength in litigation/dispute resolution, funds and capital markets has made it the preferred counsel for any stage in the lifecycle of a project. It has vast experience in handling high– profile green and brown field projects for various domestic/international clients, including the Government of India, banks, investment funds, contractors, project developers and sponsors.

Contacts: Bahram N. Vakil, Gautam Saha

Competition:

Being closely associated with the development and practice of competition/antitrust law in India, the firm is sought out by domestic/multinational companies for its expertise. AZB’s work includes merger control, antitrust litigation, cartels and leniency, anti–competitive vertical agreements and abuse of dominance.

Contacts: Zia Mody, Samir Gandhi, Bharat Budholia, Hemangini Dadwal, Ram Kumar Poornachandran, Gaurav Bansal

Dispute Resolution:

AZB is the go–to firm for JV litigation, competition disputes and international arbitration. It regularly tackles civil, criminal, commercial and constitution- al matters in the Supreme Court and various Indian High Courts and also conducts multijurisdictional arbitrations, mediations and negotiations.

Contacts: Zia Mody, Aditya Vikram Bhat, Rajendra Barot, Vijayendra Pratap Singh

Real Estate:

The firm provides comprehensive real estate ser- vices, encompassing the full range of issues arising in connection with the acquisition, sale, structuring, leasing, licensing, zoning, use and development of property. Its clients include sovereign funds, pen- sion funds, PE funds and domestic/international investors.

Contacts: Hardeep Sachdeva, Nohid Nooreyezdan

Tax:

AZB’s specialised team of professionals and lawyers, many holding accounting qualifications, provide the full spectrum of services, including corporate tax planning, tax advisory and transactional tax services, spanning multiple industries. It has provided counsel on diverse issues, including international tax, transfer pricing, M&A tax issues, tax structuring, succession planning, custom and excise duties, tax litigation, VAT and GST.

Contacts: Ajay Bahl, Deepak Chopra, Shreya Rao, Suresh Varanasi

Capital Markets:

AZB is known for its experience in debt and equity issuances, IPOs and QIPs, representing issuers and underwriters in cross–border transactions. Its clients include leading domestic and international investment banks and investment houses.

Contacts: Lionel D’Almeida, Srinath Dasari, Varoon Chandra

White-Collar Crime:

The firm assists directors and officers on matters relating to economic crimes, ranging from investigations, bail or anticipatory bail matters, litigation strategy, defense strategy, compliance and reporting obligations. AZB’s team comprises consultants with extensive experience in forensic investigations.

Contacts: Zia Mody, Ajay Bahl, Aditya Vikram Bhat, Anind Thomas, Ashwath Rau, Nohid Nooreyezdan, Rajendra Barot, Soumit Nikhra, Vijayendra Pratap Singh

International Work:

■ RIL and Jio on a series of 14 investments worth over US$ 20 Billion from 13 leading global investors, including Facebook, Google, Silver Lake Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Vista Equity Partners and TPG

■ Reliance Industries US$ 7 Billion Rights Issue

■ ICICI Lombard’s acquisition of Bharti AXA’s General Insurance Business

■ Yes Bank Restructuring

■ Jet Airway’s insolvency proceedings under IBC

■ Bharti Airtel’s QIP and FCCB issuance aggregating US$ 3 Billion

■ Total SA’s Acquisition of stake in Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Gas Ltd.

■ Restructuring of Tata Motor’s passenger vehicle business

■ Carlyle’s Acquisition of SeQuent Scientific & Piramal Pharma Ltd.