South Square expands international insolvency expertise with addition of leading Indian lawyer

Dhananjay is from the leading Indian law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM), where he has worked for 17 years and he continues to serve as a partner for the firm’s Insolvency and Restructuring group. He joins chambers as a sole practitioner and his practice will be independent of his continuing practice as a CAM partner.

He has considerable depth and breadth of experience in Indian restructuring and insolvency, including both in-court and out-of-court restructurings, cross-border insolvency, banking and structured finance transactions, and special situations.

Dhananjay also has profound expertise in distressed debt trading and asset reconstruction matters.

Dhananjay’s wide-ranging work experience extends to corporate finance and project finance, focused mainly on the oil and gas, telecom and port sectors where he advises both lenders and developers.

As part of CAM, Dhananjay has:

• represented Indian as well as foreign creditors, acquirers and office-holders in high-stakes insolvency matters such as Essar Steel, Jet Airways, Videocon Group, Ruchi Soya, YES Bank, and Srei Group; and
• acted for many key players in the corporate finance and project finance space.

His pre-eminence in insolvency and restructuring has seen Dhananjay ranked in the leading legal directories, including a Band 2 ranking by Chambers and Partners, where he has been ranked for the past five years.

Dhananjay has the right of audience before all courts and tribunals in India. He was also called to the Bar in England and Wales in March 2022 via Gray’s Inn.

Furthermore, Dhananjay is a registered foreign lawyer with full registration with the Singapore International Commercial Court. He is also a Fellow and Member of INSOL International, Vice President of INSOL India, and a “NextGen” Member of the International Insolvency Institute.

Head of Chambers, Tom Smith KC, commented as follows on this latest addition to the South Square team: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Dhananjay. He enjoys an excellent reputation for his work in restructuring and insolvency in India, and will provide our clients with an important source of expertise for this vast market.”

Dhananjay said: “I feel a tremendous sense of professional satisfaction to be joining a set with such an excellent international reputation for restructuring and insolvency law. South Square is a chambers of truly global renown, and I look forward to being able to help expand its reach and using my knowledge and experience as an experienced commercial lawyer at the disposal of its clients.”