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150-lawyer deal: Amarchand, Platinum, Slaughters sell United Spirits to Diageo for £660m

Diageo gets the Indian spirit
Diageo gets the Indian spirit
Breaking: Platinum Partners and Slaughter and May advised London-based drinks giant Diageo on its complete £1.28bn (Rs 11,166 crore) acquisition of Vijay Mallya-promoted United Spirits, which was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai office, as well as Kanga & Co and Herbert Smith Freehills.

Amarchand Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff and Bangalore partner Nivedita Rao acted for United Spirits’ parent company, United Breweries Holdings Group, according to a press release from the firm. Mumbai competition law partner Nisha Kaur Uberoi and senior advisor taxation Nanda Shah also advised on the deal.

Platinum Partners together with Slaughter and May’s London office acted for Diageo.

Platinum Mumbai partners Nihar Mody and Yash Mohanram led for Diageo from India with Piusha Bose.

Slaughter and May corporate partners Simon Nicholls, Robin Ogle and Padraig Cronin led from London, assisted by associates Stuart Whitty, Filippo de Falco, John Connell, Phil Jockelson, Murray Cox, Thomas Braiden and Shaym Radia, as well as financing partners Stephen Powell and Ed Fife, associate James Greenwood and partners in tax, intellectual property, pensions and employment and real estate.

United Breweries English law advisor was Herbert Smith Freehills, while Kanga & Co assisted on the due diligence in India.

One source with knowledge of the deal said that around 150 lawyers had been involved across the globe.

Diageo will buy 19 per cent of the stake held by the promoters in UB for £660m, and 8 per cent of freshly-issued equity, followed by an open offer to give it a majority holdings, reported Mint. It also included a joint venture over United National Breweries South African beer business.

United Breweries instructed Citigroup Global Markets as lead financial adviser, while Ambit Corporate Finance assisted on tax and structure-related issues.

JM Financial was lead transaction and financial adviser to Diageo and BofA Merrill Lynch was joint financial adviser, with UBS also providing assistance.

Amarchand and Platinum (with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) also recently acted on opposite sides on the Rs 2,400 crore sale of Gujurat Gas Company by the BG Group.

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