ESTABLISHED IN 2015
Total number of professionals: 786 (160 partners)
Principal office: New Delhi
Other offices: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurugram, Kolkata and Mumbai
Key practice areas
General corporate, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, banking & finance, insolvency & bankruptcy, competition law, dispute resolution, projects & project finance, capital markets, tax, intellectual property and venture capital.
Our services
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, founded on a century of legal achievement, is one of India’s leading full-service law firms. Our mission is to enable businesses by providing solutions as trusted advisers through excellence, responsiveness, innovation and collaboration.
General corporate: Our work in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, JVs, private equity and business restructuring is well documented in the annals of Indian corporate history. Our competition law, intellectual property and regulatory teams work very closely with the corporate teams for facilitating deal closures.
Private equity: Our private equity practice is highly sought after by clients. We have delivered innovative, focused and efficient strategies to culminate in some of the most complex, structured and massive private equity deals across various industries.
Banking & finance: Our offerings range from traditional banking documentation to securitisation, factoring, setting up payment banks, syndicated loans, structured finance, acquisition finance and mortgage-backed securities, guarantee structures, equipment financing, non-convertible debentures and working capital loans.
Insolvency & bankruptcy: We have a highly skilled bankruptcy and restructuring practice that covers an entire range of scenarios, starting from early signs of distress to corporates and restructuring towards revival to processes involving liquidation and winding down of businesses.
Competition Law: With a strong and recognised competition practice in India, the 50-member strong competition team has a proven track record of successfully steering clients through their largest transactions, complex investigations and high-stakes litigations.
Dispute resolution: We are a go-to firm for domestic & international arbitrations, commercial & corporate and regulatory disputes in various courts, tribunals, forums, administrative authorities and regulators.
Projects and project finance: We advise developers, EPC contractors, investors and lenders on various infrastructure projects in sectors such as power, oil & gas, nuclear energy, ports, roads and mining. We also advise on regulatory aspects, contractual issues and government tendering aspects typically associated with such large-scale projects.
Capital markets: Our offerings include legal and regulatory advice on IPOs, FPOs, rights issues, QIPs, ADRs, GDRs, IDRs, AIM listings, on the equity side. On the debt side, our offerings include issuance and restructuring of FCCBs, non-convertible bonds, unlisted infrastructure bonds, and medium term note programmes.
Tax: We offer a broad range of direct and indirect tax services (including customs duty, central excise, service tax, value-added tax, central sales tax, state excise duty etc.) ranging from tax planning, advisory, implementation, documentation, representation and litigation support.
Intellectual property: We offer a full range of services that cover patents, trademarks, copyrights, designs and other allied laws, from conceptualisation to enforcement and from negotiations to creation of innovative corporate structures based on intellectual property.
Independent intelligence on this law firm
The following information is sourced directly from India Business Law Journal and/or Law.asia and is not part of the directory listing provided by the law firm.
Testimonials
Jagannadha Rao, group head of legal, contracts and secretarial at Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy, describes SAM & Co as “a reputed firm with highly knowledgeable and experienced partners and teams”. Rao appreciates the firm’s “excellent knowledge and experience in M&A” and its “ability to turn around complex transactions under quick timelines without compromising on the quality of services”.
Tom Platts, a partner at Stephenson & Harwood says SAM is the “most responsive and knowledgeable firm we deal with”, while being “commercially-minded and effective at what they do”.
Vidyut Gulati, general counsel and director of legal at Bharti Airtel says the firm provides “quality advice”.
Rajiv Choubey, the chief legal officer at ACC, says the firm is to be applauded for its “ability to handle high-stakes issues”.
Shahana Chatterji, a partner in the firm’s policy group, whom Nitza Agrait Vilá, senior attorney, commercial legal lead for Microsoft India, describes as “exceptional”.
“The firm has invested in the training of fantastic young lawyers and it’s working hard to keep them … I also think it’s great that SAM gives opportunities to female talent,” says Agrait Vilá, who adds that Chatterji is her trusted advisor on these matters and there is potential for her and the team to become “bigger and better”. “SAM is my go-to law firm for industry regulatory issues and policy matters, such as financial services, health, and public sector,” says Agrait Vilá.
“I rank [SAM] very highly in terms of their quality of service and responsiveness,” says Vidyut Gulati, director of legal at Bharti Enterprises
“SAM provides relevant, customized advice that is practical and legally sound,” says Vidyut Gulati, director, legal, at Bharti Enterprises. She adds that the firm’s M&A, policy and competition law teams “are particularly top class and render on-time, on-point, viable commercial solutions” that ensure value for money. Gulati commends in particular competition partner Naval Chopra for his “market expertise, global leadership and commercial soundness,” and partner Shahana Chatterji “for her policy-related, cutting-edge work and practical legal advice”.
Manish Nayyar, AGM legal and company secretary at Mitsui & Co India, commends senior associate Sourav Nath in the real estate team for being “very good and proactive in listening to the needs of clients and trying his best to get the same done within agreed timelines”. For corporate commercial work, which he says is “exceptionally good” at SAM, he is all praise for partner Amit Kumar, who he says “is very helpful in understanding the requirements for a Japanese client perspective”.
Notable Deals
Recognised by India Business Law Journal as Deals of the Year
| LIC closes India’s largest IPO | 2022 | US$2.7 billion | Details |
| AU Small Finance Bank’s record QIP | 2022 | US$250 million | Details |
| Sula Vineyards harvests first wine IPO | 2022 | US$116 million | Details |
| Delhivery delivers second-largest IPO | 2022 | US$ 676 Million | Details |
| Continuum Energy Aura’s private bond placement | 2022 | US$400 million | Details |
| Tyre companies and ATMA win cartel review | 2022 | US$218.5 million | Details |
| Biocon Biologics on India’s outbound pharma march | 2022 | US$3.33 billion | Details |
| Green investor speeding into Tata EVs | 2022 | US$500 million | Details |
| Investment mounts in ShareChat social media | 2022 | US$520 million | Details |
| Sony Zee merges two giant media networks | 2022 | US$10 billion | Details |
| Bharti Airtel’s mega rights issue | 2021 | US$2.8 billion | Details |
| PayTM’s rollercoaster IPO | 2021 | US$2.4 billion | Details |
| Freshworks lists on Nasdaq | 2021 | US$1.13 billion | Details |
| UltraTech’s benchmark sustainability bond | 2021 | US$400 million | Details |
| OYO notches a first with TLB loan | 2021 | US$660 million | Details |
| Flipkart’s massive USD3.6bn funding | 2021 | US$3.6 billion | Details |
| Blackstone’s big buyout of Mphasis stake | 2021 | US$2.8 billion | Details |
| Dream run on sports tech investment | 2021 | US$840 million | Details |
| KKR takes control of Vini Cosmetics | 2021 | US$625 million | Details |
| Pharmeasy’s unicorn round | 2021 | US$350 million | Details |
| AI collaboration a benchmark deal | 2021 | N/A | Details |
| AI collaboration a benchmark deal | 2021 | N/A | Details |
| Bharti Airtel’s monster QIP, FCCB | 2020 | US$3 billion | Details |
| Rossari Biotech’s IPO weathers covid delay | 2020 | US$66 million | Details |
| Court confiscates Modi’s assets under new act | 2020 | US$2 billion | Details |
| RattanIndia debt settlement sets benchmarks | 2020 | US$889 million | Details |
| Investors take stakes in Jio via 14 deals | 2020 | US$20 billion | Details |
| GlaxoSmithKline sells stake in Hindustan Unilever | 2020 | US$3.4 billion | Details |
| Schneider, Temasek’s acquisition of Larsen & Toubro | 2020 | US$2.1 billion | Details |
| Adani takes 75% stake in port | 2020 | US$1.6 billion | Details |
| Groupe ADP’s investment in GMR Airports | 2020 | US$1.4 billion | Details |
| Byju’s tries on WhiteHat Jr | 2020 | US$300 million | Details |
| CCI approves ‘seamless’ Fiat-Peugeot merger | 2020 | N/A | Details |
| One97’s series G funding | 2020 | US$1 billion | Details |
| Razorpay’s series D fundraise | 2019 | US$100 million | Details |
| Mobile Premier League’s series C funding | 2019 | US$90 million | Details |
| Bharti Airtel’s rights issue | 2019 | US$3.5 billion | Details |
| Axis Bank’s US$1.75bn qualified institutional placement | 2019 | US$1.75 billion | Details |
| State Bank of India’s dual tranche, senior notes issuance | 2019 | US$1.2 billion | Details |
| Moratorium order for ITNL | 2019 | US$14 billion | Details |
| Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd & Anr v Tata Sons & Ors | 2019 | N/A | Details |
| Defence of constitutionality of the IBC | 2019 | N/A | Details |
| Insolvency resolution of Essar Steel | 2019 | US$7 billion | Details |
| UVARCL’s resolution plan in Aircel’s insolvency | 2019 | US$2.87 billion | Details |
| Acquisition of Bhushan Power and Steel by JSW Steel | 2019 | US$2.74 billion | Details |
| Merger of Gruh Finance and Bandhan Bank | 2019 | US$12 billion | Details |
| Brookfield’s InvIT acquisition of Reliance arm | 2019 | US$1.9 billion | Details |
| Vijaya and Dena banks merge with Bank of Baroda | 2019 | US$1.3 billion | Details |
| Ctrip acquires MMT shares via share swap | 2019 | US$1.4 billion | Details |
| Swiggy Series H financing | 2019 | US$1 billion | Details |
| Brookfield buys Hotel Leela Ventures properties | 2019 | US$550 million | Details |
| Blackstone invests in Aakash Educational Services | 2019 | US$190 million | Details |
| Preferential allotment by Axis Bank to various investors | 2018 | US$1.6 billion | Details |
| Coal India’s offer for sale | 2018 | US$750 million | Details |
| Jaiprakash Associates’ exchange offer | 2018 | US$150 million | Details |
| Supreme Court stays NCLAT order in alleged cement cartel case | 2018 | US$1.6 billion | Details |
| Tata Steel’s acquisition of Bhushan Steel | 2018 | US$5.2 billion | Details |
| Vodafone-Idea Cellular merger | 2018 | US$23.2 billion | Details |
| Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart | 2018 | US$16 billion | Details |
| ONGC’ HPCL merger | 2018 | US$5.1 billion | Details |
| GIC affiliate’s acquisition of stake in DLF Cyber City Developers | 2018 | US$1.4 billion | Details |
| US$1.2 billion investment in Airtel Africa | 2018 | US$1.2 billion | Details |
| Blackstone’s acquisition of Indiabulls group subsidiaries | 2018 | US$731 million | Details |
| Dish TV-Videocon D2H merger | 2018 | N/A | Details |
| State Bank of India qualified institutional placement | 2017 | US$2.3 billion | Details |
| Eris Lifescience IPO | 2017 | US$260 million | Details |
| National Aluminium Company offer for sale | 2017 | US$185 million | Details |
| Indian Energy Exchange IPO | 2017 | US$155 million | Details |
| Bharti Airtel reduces Bharti Infratel stake | 2017 | US$952 million | Details |
| Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Tikona Digital | 2017 | US$ 240 million | Details |
| Arpwood Partners acquires Karvy loan portfolio | 2017 | US$200 million | Details |
| Elara Technologies’ acquisition of Locon Solutions | 2017 | N/A | Details |
| Grofers International’s funding | 2016 | US$120 million | Details |
| Avago’s acquisition of Broadcom | 2016 | US$37 billion | Details |
| Hewlett Packard sells Mphasis stake | 2016 | US$ 1.1 billion | Details |
| Brookfield’s purchase and refinancing of Gammon projects | 2016 | US$995 million | Details |
| Power Finance Corporation’s offer for sale | 2015 | US$300 million | Details |
| GSK and Novartis three-part transaction | 2015 | US$21.25 billion | Details |
| Birla’s acquisition of LafargeHolcim’s cement units | 2015 | US$766 million | Details |
| Alibaba and affiliate buy into One97 Communications | 2015 | US$575 million | Details |
| PropTiger’s acquisition of Makaan.com | 2015 | US$13.5 million | Details |
| Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs buy into PRL Developers | 2015 | US$277 million + US$138 million | Details |
| Nestle’s Maggi noodles ban | 2015 | N/A | Details |
Contact us
New Delhi
Amarchand Towers
216 Okhla Industrial Estate Ph 3
New Delhi – 110 020, India
T: +91 11 4159 0700, 4060 6060
Contact: Pallavi Shroff
E: pallavi.shroff@AMSShardul.com
Mumbai
Express Towers, 23rd Floor
Nariman Point
Mumbai – 400 021, India
T: +91 22 4933 5555
Contact: Akshay Chudasama
E: akshay.chudasama@AMSShardul.com
Gurugram
MPD Towers, 6th Floor
DLF Ph-V, Sector 43
Golf Course Road
Gurgaon – 122 022, India
T: +91 124 459 5150, 436 7734
Contact: Amit Kumar
E: amit.kumar@AMSShardul.com
Bengaluru
Prestige Sterling Square
2nd Floor Madras Bank Road
Off Lavelle Road,
Bengaluru – 560 001, India
Contact: Manav Nagaraj
E: manav.nagaraj@AMSShardul.com
Chennai
2nd Floor, ASV Chamiers Square,
87/48 Chamiers Road, RA Puram,
Chennai, 600 028, India
Contact: Dorothy Thomas
E: dorothy.thomas@AMSShardul.com
Ahmedabad
Corporate Road, Prahladnagar
Ahmedabad – 380 015, India
T: +91 79 4900 9200, 2929 7831
Contact: Manita Doshi
E: manita.doshi@AMSShardul.com
Kolkata
Anand Lok, 227
AJC Bose Road
Kolkata 700 020, India
Contact: Siddhartha Datta
E: siddhartha.datta@AMSShardul.com
Website
www.amsshardul.com
