Corporate M&A

Amarchand Mangaldas, with Jones Day, advised healthcare BPO Apollo Health Street (AHSL) and its promoters in selling out for Rs 1000 crore ($184m) to US-headquartered BPO Sutherland Global Services (SGS). SGS was advised by S&R Associates and Latham & Watkins.

Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff with Bangalore corporate partner Reeba Chacko, and Jones Day Ohio counsel Deepak Reddy acted for AHSL and its shareholders Apollo Hospitals, Maxwell, Eliza Holdings and Healthcare Investments.

Apollo Hospitals holds 40 per cent in AHSL and the rest of the shareholders are private equity investors. AHSL has 150 clients in India, according to Reuters.

S&R Associates Delhi partners Rajat Sethi and Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan, with associates Radhika Iyer, Dhruv Nath, Radhika Agrawal and Lakshmi Pradeep, and Latham & Watkins Silicon Valley partner Tony Richmond acted for SGS, which belongs to multinational conglomerate Sutherland group.

SGS is one of the largest independent BPOs in the world with over 30,000 employees globally, according to the DNA.

Sutherland outbid BPO Genpact to buy AHSL, reported The Hindu.

Chennai-based start-up Vichar Partners has advised Sree Ramcides Chemicals on its Yen 1,495 million (Rs 98 crore) acquisition by Japanese company SDS Biotech KK, which was advised by Alliance Legal and Jones Day.

PXV Law Partners advised its old client Aurora Integrated Systems and its promoters in selling out to Tata group’s Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) which was advised by AZB & Partners.

PXV Law Partners partners Deepto Roy and Pingal Khan with associate Namritha Joseph acted for the Bangalore-based Aurora which claims to be India’s leading system integrator offering field tested UAS technology. It started up in March 2011, backed by the Tata group.

AZB & Partners Bangalore partners Vivek Bajaj and Niyatha Srinivasa with associate Vydyanathan L acted for TASL which is the wholly owned aircraft and defense systems subsidiary of Tata Sons.

Khaitan & Co, with Herbert Smith Freehills, advised the Japanese Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory (OPF), in co-investing Rs 1050 crore ($193m) in Indian pharma company Claris Lifesciences, to form a joint venture (JV). Claris was advised by AZB & Partners. Japan’s Mitsui & Co, advised by Amarchand Mangladas, was the other investor.

Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi advised cinema chain PVR, which is buying rival chain Cinemax India by acquiring shares from the promoter – who are advised by Wadia Ghandy - and a subsequent open offer valued at around Rs 540 crore ($100m).

Fox Mandal advised Japanese tourism and logistics company Nissin Corporation in buying 44 per cent stake in its Indo-Japanese joint venture (JV) Nissin ABC Logistics, from JV partner ABC India. Amarchand Mangaldas advised ABC India.

Fox Mandal Kolkata partner Shourya Mandal acted for Nissin Corporation.

Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partner Kalpataru Tripathy with principal associate Abhishek Guha, senior associate Saurya Bhattacharya and associate Roopal Banthia acted for ABC India.

Breaking: Platinum Partners and Slaughter and May advised London-based drinks giant Diageo on its overall 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.

PXV Law Partners, together with its French best friend firm DS Avocats, acted for French $1.9bn agricultural conglomerate Groupe Limagrain that bought Delhi-based vegetable seeds maker Century Seeds, represented by Bangalore firm Narasappa Doraswamy Raja.

PXV stepped up with partners GT Thomas Phillippe and Anuj Sahay and senior associate Shivani Chugh for Groupe Limagrain, which also drew on French firm DS Avocats partner Olivier Monange at home.

DS Avocats had entered into a best friendship with RDA Legal, as PXV was called in 2010.

Narasappa Doraswamy partner Harish Narasappa represented Century Seeds.

According to the Economic Times the French company paid between Rs 140-145 crore ($25-26m) in an all-cash deal, in one of the largest M&A deals in the seeds space.

Exclusive: Desai & Diwanji has acted for Eureka Forbes in its 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Khaitan & Co-advised Waterlogic, which will develop water purification products together over five years, investing $10m (Rs 54 crore).

Exclusive: Udwadia Udeshi & Argus Partners (UUA) have advised Magma Fincorp, which today announced it would acquire home loan portfolios worth more than Rs 1,600 crore from GE Capital India, which was advised by AZB & Partners.

Platinum Partners with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised UK oil and gas major BG Group on its sale of state-owned Gujarat Gas Company for over Rs 2,400 crore to Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s (GSPC) subsidiary GSPC Distribution Networks, involving India’s first long form merger control clearance.

Desai & Diwanji advised hospitality group Interglobe hotels, on its multi-million dollar purchase of the issue share capital of steel maker Isha Steel Treatment, which was advised by Wadia Ghandy.

Desai & Dewanji Bombay partners Jai Diwanji and Ruzbeh Mistry, associate partner Sidhharth Mody, senior associate Shakti Singh Champawat and associate Karni Singh acted for the hotel developer, which is a joint venture between conglomerate Interglobe Enterprises and international hotel chain Accor.

Wadia Ghandy Mumbai partner Dhawal Mehta, senior associate Rati Lodha and associate Shruti Manglik acted for Isha Steel Treatment.

Khaitan & Co and Baker & McKenzie again advised leading global injectable generic drugs maker Hospira and its Indian subsidiary Hospira Healthcare India (HHI) in its Rs 1100 crore ($200m) acquisition of Chennai-based global pharma major Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals’ penicillin and penem making facility and research & development business. Orchid was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas and Latham & Watkins.

Verus advised India-based leading global wind-power company and longstanding client Suzlon Energy (Suzlon) in the Rs 160 crore ($40m) sale of its 58 MW wind-farm Suzlon Engitech to an undisclosed purchaser, which was advised by Desai & Diwanji.