THE YEAR GONE BY AT MAJMUDAR & PARTNERS

A very happy new year to all of you.  At the start of a new decade, there is a lot to look forward to.

2019 was an interesting year in India with growth tapering off a little.  However, the legal market saw a fair bit of activity.

M&A in India

The Indian M&A market remained quite buoyant, although it did not touch the highs of 2018.   There were many inbound and domestic M&A transactions, especially special situations deals, and some outbound activity.  The firm had a busy year, especially in the industrials, services, technology, healthcare and insurance sectors.

We represented Bertram Capital on the acquisition of Perennials and Sutherland (P&S), a leading designer and manufacturer of performance fabric for indoor and outdoor use and luxury outdoor furniture.  We assisted Bertram on a comprehensive due diligence of P&C’s Indian subsidiary and drafted the Indian transaction documents.

We assisted Korn Ferry (NYSE:KYF), a leading management consulting firm, on its acquisition of ESI Performance India Private Limited.  This transaction is a part of Korn Ferry’s global acquisition of three companies from TwentyEighty, Inc. in the leadership development area – Miller Heiman Group, AchieveForum, and Strategy Execution.

We acted for United Retirement Plan Consultants (URP), a leader in retirement plan design, consulting and administration services, on the sale of its Indian subsidiary to Ascensus.

Deal of the Year Award

All our other practices were also busy, and we did cutting-edge work in the areas banking/finance, tax, regulatory, disputes, insolvency, white-collar, employment and privacy/technology.  As a testimonial to our efforts, our firm has won India Business Law Journal’s (IBLJ) Deals of the Year 2019 award for its representation of CIGNA in its megamerger with Express Scripts making it a Fortune-15 company in the US.

Accolades and Recognition

The firm and its partners have been recommended and recognized by several renowned legal publications.  Some of the highlights are as follows:

• Chambers Global, 2020 has ranked our firm as a leading firm in the areas of banking and finance; corporate/M&A; and dispute resolution with managing partner, Akil Hirani; disputes head, and banking and insolvency disputes of counsel, being singled out for recognition.
• Chambers and Partners has, in its 2020 Asia Pacific edition, ranked our firm in eight (8) practice areas, including corporate/M&A; dispute resolution; employment; insurance; life sciences; real estate; tax; and technology, media, telecoms (TMT).
• Senior lawyers, including Akil Hirani (for corporate/M&A and tax); Rukshad Davar (for corporate/M&A); Ravi S. Raghavan (for tax) have been recommended by Chambers and Partners in its 2020 Asia Pacific edition.
• Outstanding recognition and recommendations have been given by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019 guide to our firm in fifteen (15) practice areas, viz., antitrust and competition; banking and finance; capital markets; corporate/M&A; dispute resolution; insurance; intellectual property; investment funds; labour and employment; projects and energy; real estate and construction; restructuring and insolvency; tax; TMT; and white-collar crime.
• The Legal 500 has listed managing partner, Akil Hirani, in its elite “Leading Lawyers” list for corporate/M&A and insurance, and all of the lawyers mentioned above have been recommended in several of the fifteen (15) practice areas.
• IFLR1000 2020 has ranked Majmudar & Partners as a leading firm in banking; capital markets; financial and corporate; infrastructure; M&A; private equity; project development; infrastructure and telecommunications network and project finance.  Further, managing partner, Akil Hirani, has been listed as a highly regarded M&A, banking, and energy and infrastructure lawyer; and partner and head of the M&A practice, Rukshad Davar, has been listed as highly regarded for M&A and real estate acquisitions work.
• Asialaw Profiles 2020 has recommended Majmudar & Partners for banking and finance, insurance; real estate; capital markets; construction; corporate/M&A; dispute resolution; and tax work.  In addition, it has highly recommended the firm for labour and employment work.  The firm is also noted for its technology and telecommunications; intellectual property; private equity; regulatory; and restructuring and insolvency practices.
• Asialaw Profiles has ranked managing partner, Akil Hirani, as a distinguished practitioner for corporate/M&A matters.  Partner and head of the M&A practice, Rukshad Davar has been ranked as a notable practitioner for corporate/M&A and competition law. Partner Amrit Mehta, has been rated as a rising star for corporate/M&A work; and tax counsel, Ravi S. Raghavan, has been ranked as a distinguished practitioner for his expertise in taxation.
• The International Tax Review – World Tax 2019 continues to recognize Majmudar & Partners as a leading tax law firm in India.
• Benchmark Litigation 2020 has ranked the firm for its insolvency and tax practices.
• Asian Legal Business has ranked the firm in the Annual ALB IP Rankings 2019 for patents and copyrights/trademarks work.
• Managing partner, Akil Hirani, has been nominated by his peers and recognized in the Who’s Who Legal 2019 edition as one of the world’s leading practitioners in the areas of corporate governance; corporate tax; data (information technology); banking and finance; and franchise.  Senior statesman, Mr. A.K. Hirani, has been listed as a leading practitioner in banking.  Finally, Ravi S. Raghavan has been listed as a leading corporate tax practitioner.
• Akil Hirani is the winner of the 2019 International Advisory Experts Award for “Banking and Finance – India.”
• India Business Law Journal (IBLJ) has ranked both, Akil Hirani and Rukshad Davar, in the A list of India’s top 100 lawyers for 2019.  The firm is also the winner of the IBLJ’s 2019 Indian Law Firm Awards in the category of “Insurance & reinsurance.”
• The firm is the winner of the 2020 Corporate International Magazine Global Award as “Franchise Law Firm of the Year in India” and “Investment Structuring Law Firm of the Year in India.”
• The firm is the winner of Corporate Insider’s 2019 Business Excellence Awards and the Lawyers Worldwide Awards 2019 as “Banking & Finance Law Firm of the Year.”
• The firm has won the Silver Award for the “Best Indian Law Firm 2019” at the prestigious International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards event held in New York in June 2019.
• The firm is the winner of Corporate LiveWire Innovation & Excellence Awards 2019 for “Excellence in Employment Law Services – India.”
• The firm is the winner of the 10^th Annual GLE Awards 2019 in the category of “Investment Structuring Law Firm of the Year in India.”
• The firm is the winner of the Finance Monthly Legal Awards 2019 as “Insolvency & Restructuring Law Firm of the Year – India.”

From all of us at Majmudar & Partners, we would like to thank our clients, colleagues and friends worldwide for their continued support.  Without your help and support, none of this would be possible, and we look forward to breaking new grounds and scaling new heights in the new decade that has just commenced.