Firm Named India Practice of the Year

Latham & Watkins has received the inaugural India Practice of the Year Award at the 2020 International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Asia-Pacific Awards. IFLR highlighted Latham’s role in a series of “firsts in the markets” spanning debt and equity offerings across diverse industries, including telecommunications, real estate investment trusts (REITs), renewable energy, and construction engineering.  

IFLR’s Asia-Pacific Awards program recognizes “legally innovative cross-border transactions ... and the firms and teams behind them,” according to the publication. 

The publication noted Latham’s role advising on:

• Bharti Airtel’s rights offering: Latham represented the underwriter in connection with Indian global telecommunications services company Bharti Airtel’s listing of 1.13 billion equity shares on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). The issuance marked the joint largest equity offering in local currency terms in India since the global financial crisis.
• Embassy Office Parks REIT’s IPO: Latham represented the underwriter in connection with Embassy Office Parks REIT’s ₹47.5 billion initial public offering, the first by a real estate investment trust in India. 
• Renew Power’s senior secured bonds issue: Latham represented the co-issuers in a 144A/Reg S securities offering consisting of US$375 million 6.67% senior secured notes due 2024, initially guaranteed by ReNew Power Limited — India’s largest renewable energy company, and the parent of each of the co-issuers. The transaction was a first-of-its-kind co-issuer structure in Asia.
• IndiGrid’s qualified private placement: Latham represented the lead managers in India Grid Trust’s US$1.7 billion units offering listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) and BSE Limited (BSE), marking the first qualified institutional placement by an infrastructure investment trust in India. 
• Azure Power Solar Energy’s US dollar notes issue: Latham represented the initial purchaser in connection with India-based Azure Power Energy’s issue of 5.65% senior notes due 2024. The US dollar notes qualified as green bonds and were certified by Climate Bonds Initiative, a nonprofit organization working solely to mobilize debt capital markets for climate change solutions. 
• Sterling and Wilson Solar’s IPO: Latham advised Sterling and Wilson Solar (SWSL), an Indian construction engineering company, on its initial public offering of equity shares listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

Latham’s India Practice includes more than 50 lawyers who advise local and international clients on complex transactions and disputes. The team brings more than two decades of experience working in the region, spanning hundreds of transactions.