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17 deals in brief: $1bn Reliance US notes with AZB; D&D, Amarchand for $41m Fidelity; Voda-Piramal reprise; Alliance Vishnu +1 & more…

The rest of the week's deals in one package
The rest of the week's deals in one package

17 deals and cases in brief this week, spanning M&A, a raft of financings, private equity, debt and equity capital markets and litigation.

Corporate / M&A

Amarchand Mangaldas partner Leena Chacko advised FMCG Marico on its largest buyout ever: the acquisition of the Rs 150 crore valued Gujarat-based Paras Pharmaceuticals’ personal care business from British consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser Group, for an estimated Rs 650 crore. Reckitt drafted in PRA Law offices.

S&R Associates partner Rajat Sethi with associates Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan, Radhika Iyer, Simran Dhir and Rohit Anand advised the Vodafone group in its Rs 3,007 crore equity sale to Piramal Healthcare which advised by Amarchand Mangaldas partners Cyril Shroff and Leena Chacko, upped its holding in the former to 11 per cent now, after this purchase of ETHL Communication’s stake in the group. ETHL was advised by AZB & Partners partner Shameek Chaudhuri with associate Sonali Mathur in this sale.

AZB partner Essaji Vahanvati with associate Nanditha Gopal advised Chennai-based construction firm NAPC in its acquisition by French construction major Vinci’s special purpose vehicle Eurovia from its promoters, for an undisclosed consideration.

Private Equity

Desai & Diwanji partners Apurva Diwanji and Vihang Virkar with associate partner Sakshi Mehra and associate Bhumi Kothari advised private equity investor Fidelity Growth Partners in its purchase of a Rs 180 crore ($40.6m) 30% stake in Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Aptuit Laurus, which was advised by Platinum Partners partner Gautam Bhat with associate Abhinav Bhalaik. Fidelity also made a secondary investment in Aptuit (Asia) which was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas Bangalore partner Reeba Chacko with principal associate Rashmi Pradeep and associate Bharath Reddy alongside US firm Cravath Swaine & Moore.

Wadia Ghandy partners Marylou Bilawala and Amit Manubarwala with associate Deepak Kumar advised private equity firm Jacob Ballas in its second investment this year, when NYLIM Jacob Ballas India Fund III bought Rs 100 crore ($20m) of a minority-stake in Mumbai-based DBM Geotechnic, which was advised by Alliance Legal partner Vishnu Jerome and senior associate Shameek Ray.

AZB partners Darshika Kothari and Anind Thomas advised public-listed non-banking finance company (NBFC) Cholamandalam Investment & Finance in private equity firm Creador I’s Rs 1.06bn ($21.44m) purchase of a 5% stake.

Amarchand Mangaldas partner Reeba Chacko advised Fource Infrastructure Equipments shareholder India Equity Partners in Wadia Ghandy advised General Atlantic Singapore Fund’s Rs 511 crore ($104 m) private equity investment in Fource which was advised by Alliance Legal. Economic Laws Practice advised Mayfield FVCI whose shareholding in Fource was bought by the investor.

Finance

Majmudar & Co partner Akil Hirani advised Axis Bank Singapore, alongside New Zealand-based law firm Duncan Cotterill partners Jill Millburn and Neil Scott, in its AUD $7,500,000 (Rs 39 crore) financing of additional capital expenditure incurred in Australian agribusiness Riverina Oils & Bio Energy’s oil extraction plant.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) partners Dina Wadia and Aashit Shah with senior associate Anish Mashruwala, and associate Soumitra Majmudar and Utsav Johri, with Herbert Smith, advised IDBI Bank’s financing of $336m of Indian cement and zinc maker Binani Industries’ €275m acquisition of European fiber glass maker Project Bird Holdings.

Amarchand Mangaldas partners Niloufer Lam advised NBFC Infrastructure Development Finance Company in establishing a Rs 740 bn ($15 bn) medium term note programme for issuance of secured, unsecured and subordinated bonds. The programme which is a first for an infrastructure finance company, and issuance of subordinated debt in the international market which is a first for an NBFC, will comply with specific RBI directions in this regard.

AZB partner Ashwin Ramanathan with senior associate Bhavi Sanghvi and associate Kumarjit Ray advised Axis Bank, which extended Rs 4.30bn ($86.34m) by way of senior debt to consumer products maker Jyothi Laboratories to refinance its existing non-convertible debentures in the Indian unit of Henkel AG.

Amarchand Mangaldas partner S.H Bhojani advised State Bank of India and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in their advance of a Rs 3700 crore ($750 m) loan to Yes Bank for onlending pursuant to inter-bank foreign exchange dealings.

Asset finance

Desai & Diwanji Mumbai partner Vihang Virkar with associate Ayesha Rai advised budget airline GoAir in its purchase of Rs 100 crore ($20 m) of Pratt and Whitney aircraft engines, which was advised by Holland & Knight New York partner John Pritchard alongside Norton Rose partner Marc Hamilton.

Debt capital markets

AZB partners Shuva Mandal and Varoon Chandra advised Reliance Industries and its US subsidiary in its $1bn (Rs 4920 crore) public issue of 5.4 per cent senior unsecured notes maturing in 2022. The issue, which was the first corporate bond issue from India since August, 2011, was oversubscribed by eight times with the order-book aggregating US$ 7.8 billion, the largest in an Asian USD issuance, according to AZB.

J Sagar Associates partner Dina Wadia with senior associate Uttara Kolhatkar advised the joint bookrunners and lead managers Barclays Bank, Citigroup Global Markets, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and UBS AG Singapore.

Equity capital markets

AZB partner Shameek Chaudhuri with associate Lionel D’Almeida advised GLG Financials Fund in its sale of equity worth Rs 78 lakh routed through MCX-SX.

Amarchand Mangaldas partners Nivedita Rao and Yash Ashar advised Godrej Consumer Products in preferential allotment of equity worth Rs 685 crore ($1.4 m) to Asian investment company Temasek’s 100 per cent subsidiary Bayfree which was advised by Jyoti Sagar Associates.

Litigation

Senior advocate Virag Tulzapurkar and Nishit Dhruva from MDP & Partners are advising ING Vyasa Bank in its suit before the Bombay High Court seeking Injunction against its landlord Modern Realty and Bhavesh Seth from evicting the bank from its Opera House branch premises. The matter was listed in the court of Justice SJ Vazifdar after the bank was locked out of the leased premises on 12 February over a disagreement relating to a clause of the leave and licence agreement between the landlord and the bank.The clause dealt with a refund of the tenant’s security deposit. The bank claimed it was entitled to the refund simultaneously upon handing over possession of the premises to the landlord.

If you would like your deals included in future deals round-ups, please send us an email at with details of the transaction and lead partners.

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