Squire Patton Boggs has been named a “Key Player” for India Work by India Business Law Journal, moving up a band in its annual rankings that recognize the India-related achievements and activities of law firms around the world. The report draws on analysis of more than 600 law firms from every continent that have recorded transactions or cases with an Indian connection over the past year, taking views from in house and external counsel, and private law firms in India.
The report states: “Squire Patton Boggs has diversified its India Practice, moving from capital markets to focus more on public policy, lobbying and regulatory matters. Squire Patton Boggs has also benefited from the guidance of Frank Wisner, a former US ambassador to India, who is an international affairs adviser at the firm, and Sunil Mehta, the former country head and CEO for AIG India and a former corporate bank head for Citibank India, who is an independent adviser to the firm. The firm has played roles on qualified institutional placements by companies such as Minda Industries, Mercator and Greenply Industries, and advised on the IPOs of Varun Beverages, Sheela Foam and Quess Corp, among others.”
Biswajit Chatterjee, Corporate partner and co-head of the firm’s India Practice, commented: “I am delighted that the growth of our India Practice has been recognized by India Business Law Journal and that we have improved our ranking to be noted as a Key Player this year. Our India Practice is one of the fastest growing of any international law firm and, in a relatively short time, we have established a strong reputation for our experience in India-related work, advising on a number of landmark transactions and winning several key industry accolades.”
Notable recent deals include acting as US counsel to the State Bank of India on its Rule 144A US$2.3 billion qualified institutional placement, the largest ever qualified institutional placement equity offering in India, advising on the first small finance bank IPO (US$386 million Equitas Holdings IPO; then the second largest IPO in India since 2012); the first major beverage franchisee IPO (US$175 million Varun Beverages IPO); and the highest ever subscribed IPO in India (US$60 million Quess Corp IPO, oversubscribed 147 times).
Squire Patton Boggs was awarded India Desk of the Year (International) Award (2016) by Thomson Reuters IDEX Legal Awards and was recognised Best International Capital Markets Law Firm of the Year by Legal Era in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.