Kochhar amp Cos Bidan Chandran moves to PDS Associates To head Project Finance Team

Former Kochhar & Co. Partner, Bidan Chandran, has recently joined Mumbai-based PDS & Associates as Partner. Bidan shall be heading the Project Finance Practice of the Firm. The move is effective from January 2, 2013..Former Kochhar & Co. Partner, Bidan Chandran, has recently joined Mumbai-based firm PDS & Associates as Partner. Bidan shall be heading the Project Finance Practice of the Firm. The move is effective from January 2, 2013..Bidan has almost 22 years of experience in Banking Finance, Project Finance and Dispute Resolution. His key practice areas include Banking, Securities, Corporate, Foreign Exchange, and Arbitration and Litigation. In August, 2012, Bidan had moved from Singhania & Partners to Kochhar and Co’s Mumbai office..Bidan Chandran told Bar & Bench that one of the reasons which attracted him towards PDS was the fact that the firm had built up an “excellent Banking Practice within a limited span of 2-3 years”. Another reason why he decided to move from Kochhar & Co, was his working relationship with Ramnath Pradeep, former CMD of Corporation Bank, who had joined the firm as Chief Advisor in Banking Law in October of 2012. Bidan is also looking forward to the challenges of working in a smaller firm; “One of the reasons I took up this position is that there is a lot of potential as far as this firm is concerned.”.On the current market outlook, Bidan observed that “Very few big ticket transactions are taking place since a lot of banks are taking stock of their earlier loans. This year will see an improvement; it certainly could not get any worse!”.Speaking to Bar & Bench, PDS Principal Partner Sajid Mohamed said that the firm was looking to expand its Project Finance team and they were looking for someone with “institutional experience”. Sajid said that they are looking at a team size of five lawyers, a Partner and a Chief Advisor. “We want to increase our team size but are currently waiting for the markets to improve, something which should happen in the next 6 or 7 months.”