Mergers and joint ventures lead last month’s largest deals, while private equity, capital markets, litigation and competition policy also nestle in.

M&A and joint ventures

International bank Citibank bought rights and interests relating to real estate special purpose vehicle Earnest Tower’s first international financial centre condominium for Rs 985 crore ($180m)
Citibank: Amarchand Mangaldas managing partner Cyril Shroff with Mumbai partners Sandeep Dave and Indraneel Deshmukh, and senior advisor Nanda Shah
Earnest Towers: AZB & Partners partner Nohid Nooreyezdan with associate Farhana Merchant.

Infrastructure finance company IDFC bought real estate company DLF’s subsidiary’s information technology park joint venture for Rs 450 crore ($82m)

DLF: Luthra & Luthra Delhi partner Deepak Joyce, senior associate Manish Gupta and associate Shubhangi Bhadada.

IDFC: DSK Legal Mumbai partner Sajit Survana and associate Saloni Modi.

Auto manufacturer Nagpur Automotive bought steel manufacturer Adhunik Metalik’s forging subsidiary Neepaz V Forge for Rs 230 crore ($44m)

Adhunik Metalik: Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partner Kalpataru Tripathy with principal associate Abhishek Guha and associate Shruti Singh.  

Nagpur Automotive: Desai & Diwanji associate partner Raghav Mathur with senior associate Jinni Sinha and associates Asmita Chaturvedi and Nitya Chadha.

Swiss metallurgical manufacturer SFS Infotec Holding bought 45 per cent stake in Indian auto parts manufacturer Indo Schottle Auto Parts for Rs 163 crore ($30m)

SFS Infotec: Khaitan & Co partner Anand Mehta

Schottle Auto Parts: Crawford Bayley

Sulphur producer Oriental Carbon and Chemicals bought half the entire stake in tyre tube valve manufacturer Schrader Duncan for Rs 25 crore ($4.6m) from Schrader Bridgeport

Oriental Carbon and Chemicals: Khaitan & Co partners Haigreve Khaitan, Arindam Ghosh and Akash Choubey

Schrader Duncan: Crawford Bayley partners RA Shah and Sanjay Buch with associate partner Preety Singh

Schrader Bridgeport: Kochhar & Co partner Rajarshi Chakrabarti with senior associate Jyoti Maheshwari and associate Anjali R Menon

International luxury fashion brand Giorgio Armani terminated its existing Indian retail trading agreements and appointed Indian luxury fashion retailer Genesis La Mode as its franchisee for Indian retail.

Giorgio Armani: Khaitan & Co partners Anand Mehta, Rabindra Jhunjhunwala. Daksha Baxi, Sudip Mullick and Dinesh Agarwal

Genesis La Mode: International law firm Covington & Burling

Chinese construction machinery manufacturer Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG) bought majority stake in German heavy machinery manufacturer Schwing and its Indian subsidiary Schwing Stetter.

XCMG: Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partner Raghubir Menon with senior associates designate Shubhangi Pathak and Rishi Anand and associate Anirban Bhattacharya and European law firm Noerr LLP.

Heavy machinery manufacturer HawkeyePedershaab entered into a 50:50 joint venture Apollo HawkeyePedershaab with construction equipment manufacturer Apollo Infratech.

HawkeyePedershaab: Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partner Pankaj Aggarwal with senior associate Soumya DeMallick and associates Arvind Gupta and Shreyas Rathore, and US law firm Shuttleworth Ingersoll PLC Attorneys at Law

Apollo Infratech:  Tapan Shah, Shah & Shah Associates, Ahmedabad

Hong Kong based investment firm CA Media bought 49 per cent equity in leading Indian entertainment television producer Endemol India.

CA Media: Khaitan & Co partners Anand Mehta and Rabindra Jhunjhunwala, with US based law firm O’Melveny & Myers

Endemol India: Amarchand Mangaldas partners Vandana Shroff and Alice George

Seed company Vilmorin & Cie bought 61 per cent stake in seed company Bisco Biosciences

Vilmorin & Cie: Khaitan & Co partner Abhilekh Verma

Bisco Biosciences: Tempus Law Associates partner Sundari R Pisupati

European kitchenware manufacturer Bialetti terminated its Indian join venture Triveni Bialetti withdrawing it’s 94 per cent stake in the JV.

Bialetti: Khaitan & Co partners Murali Neelakantan and Chakrapani Misra

Indian promoters: DSK Legal

Private equity and venture capital

Venture capital fund Nylim Jacob Ballas India bought Rs 200 crore ($37.4m) of stake in private port Karaikal from India Infrastructure Fund and Ascent Capital.

Karaikal Port: AZB & Partners partner Srinath Dasari with associate Nanditha Gopal

India Infrastructure Fund: Khaitan & Co partner Vaishali Sharma

Nylim Jacob Ballas: Wadia Ghandy Mumbai partner Amit Manubarwala

Ascent Capital: ALMT Legal partner Dhanya Menon

Venture capital fund India Venture Trust Fund – I invested Rs 71 crore ($13m) in drugs and chemicals manufacturer Vardhman Chemtech.

Vardhman Chemtech: Khaitan & Co partner Murali Neelakantan

India Venture Trust Fund – I: Nishith Desai Associates

Global venture capital fund Kae Capital set up a Rs 13.85 crore ($2.6m) domestic venture capital fund and a co-investing offshore fund worth Rs 127 crore

Kae Capital: AZB & Partners partner Vineetha MG, and associates Aditya Jhaveri and Arpita Acharya with US-based law firm Sidley Austin LLP New York partner Sam Gandhi.

Capital markets

Japanese bank Mizuho Corporate Bank bought Rs 160 crore ($30m) of pass through certificates for securitization of receivables from commercial vehicle loans by Shriram Transport Finance Company.

Mizuho Corporate Bank: AZB & Partners partners Ashwin Ramanathan and Kalpana Merchant

Shriram Transport Finance Company: Advised in-house

Litigation and Competition

South Korean consumer electronic durables producer Samsung Electronics obtained a Delhi high court order against three importers of Samsung printers who were importing the goods without Samsung's authorisation.

Samsung Electronics: Anand and Anand managing partner Pravin Anand

Competition Commission of India (CCI) allowed hygiene and pharmaceutical goods producer Reckitt Benckiser to sell its personal care lateral Paras Pharmaceuticals, without penalising the seller for belated filing for CCI clearance.

Reckitt Benckiser: Dhall Law Chambers founding partner Vinod Dhall with associates Sonam Mathur and P Ramkumar, Khaitan & Co partner Manas Kumar Chaudhuri, and PRA Law Offices.

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