Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Advises Axis Bank on Acquisition of up to 30% Stake in Max Life

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Axis Bank Limited (Axis Bank) on acquisition of up to 30% stake in Max Life Insurance Company Limited (Max Life) from Max Financial Services Limited (Max Financial) by way of a secondary transfer of shares. For the acquisition, Axis Bank, Max Financial, and Max Life executed a share purchase agreement on April 27, 2020.

The General Corporate, Capital Markets, Competition Law and Taxation Practices of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised on the Transaction.

The Transaction Team was led by Yash Ashar, Partner; and Indranath Bishnu, Partner; with support from Pranjita Barman, Principal Associate; Soumyadipta Chanda, Principal Associate; Anirud Sudarsan R, Associate; and Viraj Dhurrin, Associate.

The Capital Markets Advisory team was led by Gokul Rajan, Partner; with support from Aashima Johur, Principal Associate Designate.

The Competition Advisory team was led by Anshuman Sakle, Partner; with support from Kaustav Kundu, Principal Associate; and Shreya Joshi, Associate.

The Corporate Due Diligence team was led by Indranath Bishnu, Partner, with support from Soumyadipta Chanda, Principal Associate; Viraj Dhuri, Associate; Anirud Sudarsan R, Associate; and Soumyaditya Dasgupta, Associate.

The Tax Due Diligence team was led by Daksha Baxi, Head - International Taxation; Mekhla Anand, Partner; and Kunal Savani, Director; with support from Shiladitya Dash, Senior Associate; Bipluv Jhingan, Associate; and Jesika Babel, Associate

The Corporate Secretarial Team that assisted in preparing the RoC search report involved Manik Makwana, Senior executive - corporate secretarial services; Mihir Sangani, Executive - corporate secretarial services; Charmi Sanghvi, Executive - corporate secretarial services; Rasika Bharadkar, Executive - corporate secretarial services; and Shikha Mody, Executive - corporate secretarial services.

As a part of the Transaction, Axis Bank, Max Financial, Max Life, Mr. Analjit Singh, Max Ventures Investment Holding Private Limited (Max Ventures), and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Limited (MSI) entered into a shareholders agreement to record the inter se rights and obligations of the aforesaid parties.

The completion of the Transaction is subject to approval of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas takes forward the values going back 103 years, of the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., whose pre-eminence, experience and reputation of almost a century has been unparalleled in the Indian legal fraternity. Tracing its professional lineage to 1917, the Firm of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is now the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 750 lawyers including over 130 partners, and offices in India's key business centres at Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Firm advises a large, and varied client base that includes domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, start-ups and governmental and regulatory bodies.

The firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, was awarded recently awarded with "India - Firm of the Year" at the AsiaLaw Regional Awards 2019 and "India Deal Firm of the Year" at the In-House Community Counsels of the Year Awards 2019. The firm was also named as the "Most Innovative National Law Firm of the Year - India for 2018" at the IFLR Asia Awards, having also been successful in winning the prestigious & coveted "National Law Firm of the Year, 2018 for India" at the Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards. The firm was also voted as the "Employer of Choice for 2018" from India, by the Asian Legal Business, now 4 years in a row, building upon the several awards that the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. had won in the past.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Announces Successful Conclusion of Cohort-I of Prarambh, India’s 1st LegalTech Incubator

LegalTech startups JRTC Intern, Leegality, and LegalMind products, developed under mentorship of CAM Partners and International experts’ mentor, find excellent industry response

On April 30th, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas announced the successful conclusion of Cohort I of Prarambh, India’s first LegalTech incubator. Started in October 2019, and housed in the Firm’s Delhi office, Prarambh had mentored 3 LegalTech startups namely JRTC Intern, Leegality, and LegalMind for developing meaningful LegalTech solutions that have already started finding widespread acceptance amongst legal professionals.

Talking about first term’s success, Mr. Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, “In keeping with our spirit of being Ahead of the Curve, we set up Prarambh in line with our passion for innovation, as also to help equip the Indian legal professionals with technology solutions that meet India’s unique requirements. The keen interest in LegalTech solutions developed at Prarambh is really heartening and speaks volumes about the potential impact Prarambh is set to make on the Indian legal sector. I really wish to congratulate all our Partners and teams involved in Cohort I, who worked very hard to enable the startups and mentored them to realize their full potential."

Mr. Cyril Shroff further added, “COVID has disrupted the normal functioning of both law firms and our clients. The demand and uptake of technology has accelerated. These are redefining the dynamics between all these stakeholders, and necessitating the need for across the board implementation of technology. We feel the outstanding success of Prarambh’s Cohort I will set the benchmark on development of India centric LegalTech solutions. I wish all our incubatee companies all the best."

Prarambh selected three technology startups for its first cohort from a pool of 51 applicants, after a rigorous assessment of the applications against 12 defined parameters. The cohort was then mentored by CAM Partners, leading international experts and the Innovation Team, who guided the startups to develop pioneering and innovating solutions that are especially developed to comply with Indian laws, and focuses on deploying latest technology including Artificial Intelligence etc. in a way that aligned with the unique needs of the legal industry.

These startups worked on a diverse range of products including internship management, workflow for eStamping and eSignature, and AI based legal research and data analytics. CAM Associates were also involved regularly in guiding and giving feedback to the cohort. Simultaneously, the cohort also enhanced its business skills with sessions from industry experts on marketing and branding, legal and regulatory compliance, customer feedback and satisfaction, financial planning and preparing for investments.

Mr. Rishabh Shroff, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said, “It is very timely that we started the Prarambh program. The legal tech sector in India was still at a fledgling stage, but now given the impact of the Corona Virus, I foresee that all our clients and in-house teams will need more LegalTech solutions. The normal lawyer-client relationship will be disaggregated and digitized and our Prarambh program will help such legal tech solutions emerge. Looking back to when we started, I can say that it has been a humbling and proud moment for us because of the success Prarambh’s first term has been fantastic."

Talking about Prarambh, Ms. Komal Gupta, Head - Innovation, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, “We embarked on a journey of Innovation with 3 unique startups, 7 months ago. Each startup had a different path to take but the goal was the same – Success and Growth. The happiest and most satisfying memories of our work with our incubatee companies were the collaborative atmosphere and sitting alongside them and helping them from one stage to the next. The knowledge sharing and collaboration through the Prarambh Program was the highlight of this journey. The startups interacted with stellar speakers and mentors, each of them a specialist in their field. During the journey, we also were faced with a number of challenges, but we traversed the challenges, found a workaround, learnt from various situations, took corrective actions and made the next day better. We are sure that these startups are set to achieve the extraordinary and will lead the LegalTech space in India. We wish them all the best."

About Prarambh’s Cohort

JRTC Intern: A talent management platform that connects pre-qualified law students with internship opportunities at law firms, advocate offices and corporates (jrtcintern.com)

Leegality: An eSigning and digital document workflow platform that enables enterprises to digitize and automate document signing and provides e-stamp papers. (leegality.com)

LegalMind: An AI based legal research platform. The platform enables users to perform efficient research supported by analytics and insights. (www.legalmind.tech)

About Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas takes forward the values going back 103 years, of the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., whose pre-eminence, experience and reputation of almost a century has been unparalleled in the Indian legal fraternity. Tracing its professional lineage to 1917, the Firm of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is now the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 750 lawyers including over 130 partners, and offices in India’s key business centres at Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Firm advises a large, and varied client base that includes domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, startups and governmental and regulatory bodies.

The firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, was awarded recently awarded with “Law Firm of the Year” & “India Deal Firm of the Year” at ALB India Law Awards 2020, “India – Firm of the Year” at the AsiaLaw Regional Awards 2019 and “India Deal Firm of the Year” at the In-House Community Counsels of the Year Awards 2019. The firm was also named as the “Most Innovative National Law Firm of the Year – India for 2018” at the IFLR Asia Awards, having also been successful in winning the prestigious & coveted “National Law Firm of the Year, 2018 for India” at the Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards. The firm was also voted as the “Employer of Choice for 2020” from India, by the Asian Legal Business, building upon the several awards that the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. had won in the past.

FICCI and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Release FICCI Frames Report on 'Entertainment Law Book 2020

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the oldest & largest apex business organization in India and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India's largest & leading law firm are delighted to release its joint report 'Entertainment Law Book 2020'.

This report presents regulatory developments in the field of TV broadcasting and distribution, music, radio, filmed entertainment and other segments in the Media & Entertainment space. It also includes several thought provoking articles on diverse topics, dealing with the issues in the Media & Entertainment sector. The report was originally scheduled to launch at the FICCI Frames 2020, however due the given COVID-19 situation the conference was called off this year. A copy of the report is attached here.

On release of the report, Mr. Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, "It is an honour and a privilege to present this report on the legal and regulatory issues impacting the Media and Entertainment sector. This report gives a bird's eye view of all important and relevant developments in the past year, encompassing the entire gamut of the Media & Entertainment sector. I would like to thank FICCI and members of its Media & Entertainment Committee for choosing us as a knowledge partner for the second consecutive year and all those who have contributed their time and valuable insights in making this report a possibility."

Mr. Dilip Chenoy, Secretary-General, FICCI said, "The Report touches upon some vital aspects that are playing an influential role in charting the way for the future of the Media & Entertainment industry. The issues lay strong foundations of the possible framework and solutions to developing the laws that will in time, govern the Media & Entertainment industry, in our country. On behalf of FICCI, I express our appreciation to Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and the members of the FICCI Media & Entertainment Committee for presenting the 2020 edition of this Report."

Mr. Bharat Vasani, Partner (Head - Media & Entertainment) said, "I am very delighted at the release of FICCI Frames Entertainment Law Report 2020. It was great experience to meet the key players in this industry and get their practical insight into the future of different verticals of this industry and the impact of digital revolution."

About Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas takes forward the values going back 103 years, of the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., whose pre-eminence, experience and reputation of almost a century has been unparalleled in the Indian legal fraternity. Tracing its professional lineage to 1917, the Firm of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is now the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 750 lawyers including over 130 partners, and offices in India's key business centres at Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Firm advises a large, and varied client base that includes domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, start-ups and governmental and regulatory bodies.

The firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, was awarded recently awarded with "Law Firm of the Year" & "India Deal Firm of the Year" at ALB India Law Awards 2020, "India - Firm of the Year" at the AsiaLaw Regional Awards 2019 and "India Deal Firm of the Year" at the In-House Community Counsels of the Year Awards 2019. The firm was also named as the "Most Innovative National Law Firm of the Year - India for 2018" at the IFLR Asia Awards, having also been successful in winning the prestigious & coveted "National Law Firm of the Year, 2018 for India" at the Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards. The firm was also voted as the "Employer of Choice for 2020" from India, by the Asian Legal Business, building upon the several awards that the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. had won in the past.

Established in 1927, FICCI is the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India. Its history is closely interwoven with India's struggle for independence, its industrialization, and its emergence as one of the most rapidly growing global economies. A non-government, not-for-profit organisation, FICCI is the voice of India's business and industry. From influencing policy to encouraging debate, engaging with policy makers and civil society, FICCI articulates the views and concerns of industry. It serves its members from the Indian private and public corporate sectors and multinational companies, drawing its strength from diverse regional chambers of commerce and industry across states, reaching out to over 2,50,000 companies.

 

~ Newsvoir

India's Largest Law Firm Launches 1st Legal Tech Startup Incubator in the Country

Mumbai-headquartered  Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, one of India's largest full-service law firms, has launched first of its kind legal tech startup incubator.

Called as Prarambh, the startup incubator will support new technology-based solutions for the legal industry in such areas as dispute resolution, transactions, law firm operations, legal research, compliance, contract management, access to justice, and legal talent management.

Prarambh Logo

Prarambh will work with young entrepreneurs to come up with new technology-based solutions for the legal industry. This will include areas related to: 

Access to justice dispute resolution transaction efficiencies law firm operations legal research compliance contract management managing legal talent others Prarambh will initially be housed at the New Delhi office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, and later extended to other locations.

The incubator will start out with 3-4 startups, which will be announced the first week of July.

The submission of applications will open from 8^th April and will close on 30^th April. The application link will be available here from 8th April, 2019.

The list of shortlisted startups will be announced on 31^st May 2019. The candidates would be invited for interview and to make a pitch in June 2019, which will be followed by announcement of successful candidates in the 1^st week of July 2019. The successful start ups will move in to the firm’s premises at a suitable date in the next 4 -6 weeks thereafter.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was founded in May 2015 to continue the legacy of the 100-year old Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co., whose pre-eminence, experience and reputation of almost a century has been unparalleled in the Indian legal fraternity. With a long and illustrious history that began in 1917, the Firm is the largest full-service law firm in India, with over 700 lawyers, including 120 partners, and offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai. 

In 2017, the law firm became the first firm in India to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technology in its day-to-day practice, signing up with Canadian machine learning software provider Kira Systems to process contracts and other legal documents more quickly and accurately.

Source - Business Standard