AZB & Partners and Desai & Diwanji were drafted in on the Indian leg of the sale of Pfizer’s $2.4bn worldwide Capsugel business to global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

AZB’s Bangalore-based partner Srinath Dasari led for Pfizer. He said that as Indian counsel the firm reviewed transaction documents from an Indian law perspective, advised on transaction structuring and applicable Indian regulatory matters, in addition to conducting a vendor due diligence of the Capsugel business in India.

Desai & Diwanji advised KKR, led by partner Aslesha Gowariker with associates Tejas Adiga, Aditya Singh and Samina Jehangir on the due diligence, structuring and documentation aspects.

Capsugel are gelatine pill capsules encasing drugs, which is manufactured at facilities in the US, India and China.

KKR had hired long-standing adviser Simpson Thacher & Bartlett New York M&A partner Sean Rodgers, with partners James Cross, Richard Fenyes, and Joyce Xu in New York, and Shaolin Luo in Beijing, according to The AmLaw Daily.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and White & Case co-ordinated the global legal advice for Pfizer.

The deal involved the transfer of Capsugel Healthcare’s entire shareholdings in Pfizer to Chester Holdings which is an affiliate company owned by KKR.

The entire gelatine capsules and wholesale pill casting business of Capsugel had earned Pfizer $750m in sales last year, according to Bloomberg.

The pharma giant plans to repurchase its additional stock on the open market post-completion of the deal while focussing on other investment opportunities to maximise its value.

As on December 2010 KKR had assets worth $61bn under its management.

Update: Desai & Diwanji’s also acted on the transaction, which was not reported in the original version of this article.