[ Madhurima Mukherjee, Partner - Luthra & Luthra, New Delhi ]

The much-touted recession appears to be receding and capital market lawyers are once again getting off the bench, and onto some major deals.

2005 saw Rupees 25,000 crores ($ 5.5 Billion) raised through IPOs. Via the same route, 2007 saw approximately Rupees 50,000 crores ($11.1 Billion). However, 2008 saw the market slump by almost 55% with Rupees 20,000 crores ($ 4.4 Billion) being the total capital raised. 2009 appears to be seeing an upswing in the IPO market, and Bar & Bench tracks the trends with a look at the firms working on some of India's biggest IPOs.

The D.B. Corp IPO- Luthra & Luthra; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Desai & Diwanji; AZB & Partners

Luthra & Luthra opens its capital markets account with this 1,000-crore ($220 Million) transaction. The Madhurima Mukherjee-led team comprising Manan Lahoti, Pragati Kumar and Sudha Muddaiah are advising the issue of the Bhopal-based media giant, D.B. Corp. Rajeev P. Duggal & team, from the Singapore office of Skadden, Arps, act as international  counsels for the issue.  Citigroup Global Markets Private Limited, the underwriters, are advised by Desai & Diwanji. Partners Amit Khan Saheb and Apurva Diwanji lead the team comprising Shyam Pandya and Angad Dhindsa. The selling shareholder, Cliffrose Investment, is being advised by AZB & Partners at Mumbai.

The JSW Energy IPO- Amarchand Mangaldas; Khaitan & Co.; Latham & Watkins

Amarchand Mangaldas, Suresh A. Shroff & Co.  are advising JSW Energy on its 3,000- crore ($660 Million) IPO. Yash Ashar, the capital markets Partner at Amarchand, Mumbai confirms that the company is advised by them, but declined to comment further. The domestic legal counsel for the underwriters are Khaitan & Co, led by Partner Nikhilesh Panchal in Mumbai. Latham & Watkins act as the international legal counsel for the underwriters.

The Den Networks IPO- Amarchand Mangaldas; Link Legal; Dorsey & Whitney

Their fifth IPO in 09', Amarchand Mangaldas, through their Delhi office, are representing Den Networks in their 300-crore ($ 66 Million) IPO. Link Legal, New Delhi led by Partner Munish Sharma, Ajay Sahani, Milind Jha and Nidhi Pathania, are the domestic counsel for the Global Coordinator & Book Running Lead Manager and the Co-Book Running Lead Manager with Dorsey & Whitney LLP, London advising them at the international level.

Eight companies have filed red herring prospectuses, three companies their final offer document and about twelve companies have filed their draft offer documents with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Further signs of the market's recovery are evinced by HDFC's 4000-crore ($888 Million) QIP and Punj Lloyd's 670-crore ($ 148 Million) QIP. Watch this space for more updates on QIP capital-raising.