Biography: Public Procurement

Mr Mohit Saraf is a senior partner with Luthra & Luthra Law Offices – a premier full-service law firm in India.

Mr Saraf has represented the government of India and various government companies and public sector undertakings (PSU) in relation to public procurement advice including in relation to divestment of equity stake by the government of India in certain PSU.

He regularly represents multiple global and domestic players in relation to their participation in public procurement process including the defence procurement process.

Mr Saraf is listed as a leading business lawyer in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, Chambers Global, IFLR, Legal 500 and Practical Law Company. Chambers & Partners describe him as 'a dream lawyer for corporate transactions because he balances the legal and commercial aspects of a transaction'. ALB Hot 100 has also honoured him as one of the top-performing lawyers.

Certain clients that Mr Saraf has advised with respect to the public procurement process include Rolls Royce Military Systems, British Aerospace, Honeywell, Oceanworks, Ministry of Defense, Embraer, Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Limited, ITT Defense International, GMR, GVK, Lanco, Moser Baer, Bridport Aviation, Militair Aviation, Rolls Royce Plc.

Mr Saraf has over 50 publications on infrastructure law and policy to his credit. He is also a visiting faculty at various law and management schools in India and is a regular speaker at various conferences.

He has been awarded the Shaurya Chakra, a national peacetime gallantry award by the president of India.

Biography: Insurance & Reinsurance

Mohit Saraf is a senior partner with Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, a premier top-tier law firm in India. His specialisations include corporate insurance, mutual funds and venture capital.

He possesses vast experience in the insurance sector, having handled the entire gamut of insurance law issues. As part of his insurance experience, he has advised and is advising companies in connection with entry into the insurance sector in India, including investment structuring, the insurance regulatory framework and obtaining the requisite approvals. He also assists foreign insurance majors in choosing their joint venture partners and in conducting the requisite legal due diligence, negotiating joint ventures, drafting of various transaction documents, etc.

Mr Saraf has also extensively interacted with the insurance regulators, ie, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), on various policy and regulatory issues. His key clients are AXA SA, AXA Asia Pacific Holdings, Bharati AXA Life Insurance, Bharati AXA General Insurance, DLF Pramerica Life, Prudential Financial Inc, Max New York Life Insurance, United Healthcare and so on.

Mr Saraf has been awarded the Shaurya Chakra, a national peacetime gallantry award, by the President of India.

Biography: Mergers and Acquisitions

Mohit Saraf is a senior partner with Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, one of the leading law firms in India and recipient of various national and international awards. His specialisations include corporate, M&A and private equity.

Mr Saraf has been involved in the closing of several major M&A and private equity transactions. Mr Saraf has advised on several major transactions, including Abbott Laboratories' US$3.72 billion acquisition of Piramal Healthcare Solutions, US$1.19 billion acquisition (including acquisition finance) of Whyte & Mackay by United Spirits, and US$300 million investment by Blackstone in Moser Baer Power.

Certain clients of Mr Saraf include Abbott Laboratories, ArcelorMittal, United Spirits, Kingfisher Airlines, CapitaLand, Moser Baer, AXA SA (France), Sesa Goa, Roca Corporation, Sistema, Mylan, DLF, Blackstone, DE Shaw, Great Offshore, One Equity, Oman Investment, Merrill Lynch, Kliener Perkins, Avenue Capital, Qatar Investments, Abu Dhabi Investments, and Istithmar, among others.

He is listed as a top M&A lawyer in Chambers Asia Leading Lawyers, ILFR 1000, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Practical Law Company. Mohit Saraf was noted as one of Asia's top 25 M&A lawyers in 2009 by ALB and was also honoured by ALB HOT 100 as one of the top performing lawyers for 2009.

Mr Saraf has been awarded the 'Shaurya Chakra', a national peacetime gallantry award by President Venkatraman.

Biography: Real Estate

Mr Mohit Saraf is a senior partner with Luthra & Luthra, Law Offices – a premier full service law firm in India. His specialisations include real estate, construction, funds and corporate.

Mr Saraf has represented large number of real estate companies in relation to development, due diligence and financing of various projects in India. He has also represented large number of private equity funds in relation to their investment in real estate project.

Some clients he has advised with respect to real estate transaction include DLF Group, CapitaLand, Tishman Speyer, DLF Hotel Holdings Limited, Mapletree Investments Private Limited, Lehman Brothers Real Estate Private Equity, Unitech, DE Shaw & Co, Oman Investment Fund, Avenue Capital Group, Blackstone Group, Real IS AG, Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust), Omaxe Limited, Alpha G Corp, Aman Resorts, Marriott International, Inc.

Mr Saraf is listed as a leading business lawyer in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, Chambers Global, IFLR, Legal 500 and Practical Law Company. Chambers & Partners describe him as "a dream lawyer for corporate transactions because he balances the legal and commercial aspects of a transaction". ALB Hot 100 has also honoured him as one of the top-performing lawyers.

Mr Saraf has over 50 publications on infrastructure law and policy to his credit. He is also a visiting faculty lecturer at various law and management schools in India and is a regular speaker at various conferences.

Mr Saraf has also been awarded the Shaurya Chakra, a national peacetime gallantry award, by the President of India.

Biography: Project Finance

Mohit Saraf is a senior partner with Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, a premier top-tier law firm in India. His specialisations include project finance, cross-border finance and structured finance.

Mr Saraf has represented companies and financial institutions in a large number of infrastructure projects in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in energy (upstream, downstream and power projects), telecommunications, airports, aviation, inland ports, toll roads and bridges, special economic zones and oil refinery.

Mr Saraf has recently acted as counsel to a syndicate of domestic and foreign lenders for the financing of the approximately 4000 MW Sasan ultra mega power project. With an estimated project cost of US$4 billion, this transaction was ranked one of the largest project finance transactions of 2009.

He has advised the government of India on the various drafts of the Indian Electricity Bill, later enacted as the Electricity Act 2003. Some clients he has advised with respect to project finance and infrastructure transactions include Arcelor Mittal, Changi (Singapore) Airport, Exxon Mobil, Qatar Gas, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas, El Paso Energy, Government of India, Bangladesh Power Development Board, GMR Infrastructure, Globeleq, China Light & Power, Indian Oil Corporation, Bhatinda Refinery, Petronas, Maersk Sealand, PSA International Pte, Delhi Airport, Infrastructure Leasing & Finance and Kingfisher Airlines.

Mr Saraf has been nominated as one of the world's leading practitioners by Chambers Global, Asian Legal Business, ILFR 1000, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Practical Law Company. Chambers & Partners describe him as 'a dream lawyer for corporate transactions because he balances the legal and commercial aspects of a transaction'.

He is a member of the task force on Nuclear Energy constituted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the United States India Business Council (USIBC). Mr Saraf also has over 50 publications on infrastructure law and policy to his credit.

He has also been awarded the 'Shaurya Chakra', a national peacetime gallantry award by the president of India.