AZB & Partners and Simpson Thacher Bartlett acted for private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which is set to buy a $630m controlling stake in India’s Alliance Tire Group from Warburg Pincus. Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai advised the target and the sellers with Davis Polk & Wardwell in Hong Kong.

Amarchand Mumbai partners Vandana Shroff and Alice George led the team for Warburg and Alliance, managing the due diligence on Alliance’s subsidiary ATC India and assisting on the drafting of transaction documents and other domestic legal advice. Amarchand Mumbai competition partner Nisha Kaur Uberoi also assisted.

Warburg and Alliance also drew on Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Hong Kong partner Kirtee Kapoor as international counsel and Amsterdam-based Stibbe senior associate Sjoerd Buijn with respect to Dutch law.

AZB Mumbai partner Darshika Kothari acted for KKR with Simpson Thacher – a pairing that has regularly advised the private equity house in relation to its India investments. Joohee Kahng, a registered foreign lawyer in Hong Kong, led for Simpsons.

The Wall Street Journal reported that KKR would pay around $630m for control of the tire maker, also taking on around $125m (Rs 680 crore) of debt according to the Economic Times making it India’s second-largest leveraged buyout (LBO) in seven years.

According to WSJ, this would be KKR’s last investment into Asia from its 2007 $4bn Asia I fund.

Photo by Wes Peck