S&R Associates has hired a five-lawyer banking and finance team from J Sagar Associates (JSA) in New Delhi.

The team is led by partner Divyanshu Pandey, who will lead the banking practice at his new firm, with colleague Arpita Gurg joining as a partner having been a senior associate at her former firm.

Their arrival boosts the number of partners at S&R Associates, which also has an office in Mumbai, to 18 partners.

Pandey splits his practice between structured finance, project finance and debt finance matters, as well as acquisition financing. He also advises on restructuring, insolvency, and related financial enforcement claims for a variety of clients, including Indian and international banks, as well as corporates, family businesses, arrangers, and finance-related businesses.  

Pandey spent more than 11 years at S&R Associates. Dual-qualified in both London and New Delhi, he worked as a finance solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter and May in London, having qualified at Slaughters.

Garg, meanwhile, has a range of experience, covering restructuring, insolvency, structured finance, real estate and trade finance, as well as project finance mandates. She brings in-house experience from her time at ICICI Bank, having subsequently worked out of JSA for ten years.

Joining with Pandey and Garg are associates Rishabh Bhojwani, Prerna Sachdeva and Shashwat Bhaskar. In October, S&R Associates promoted litigator Shahezad Kazi to the partnership as its second disputes partner, working alongside head of department Niti Dixit. 

Elsewhere across India, August saw Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan strengthen its corporate practice in New Delhi with a double partner hire, while in May Trilegal hired two partners from rival outfit Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas to bolster its Mumbai corporate practice.