AZB on both sides of Reliance-DE Shaw JV with Covingtons, Debevoise

Tuesday, 29 March 2011 By Legally India Corporate M&A

AZB & Partners’ Mumbai and Delhi offices advised on both sides of the financial services joint venture between India’s largest private sector enterprise Reliance Industries and US investment group D E Shaw with Debevoise & Plimpton and Covington & Burling.

It is understood that Covington & Burling Washington-based partner Ralph Voltmer led the transaction for Reliance, advising on New York laws, with AZB & Partners Mumbai partner Shuva Mandal drawn in to lead for Reliance Industries.

AZB Delhi partner Vinati Kastia advised her long-standing client D E Shaw group, with support from Delhi-based co-founding partner Ajay Bahl and senior associates Ritika Rathi, Satyajit Gupta, Aparna Mehra and Bharat Bahadur.

Debevoise & Plimpton corporate law partners Michael J Gillespie in New York and Geoffrey P Burgess in London led negotiations for D E Shaw on aspects of non-Indian laws.

It is understood that because Covington Burling’s lead on the deal for Reliance, clients were not concerned about the conflict of AZB acting for both sides of the JV.

The joint venture has been forged to target financial services business in India with D E Shaw’s investment and technology expertise and Reliance Industries’ operational knowledge and extensive reach in the country.

D E Shaw group had approximately $19bn investment capital as on January 2011.

AZB & PartnersCovington & BurlingDebevoise & Plimpton

Comments

Anonymous guest 30 Mar 2011, 00:05
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Well, Chinese Walls have crumbled worse in the past...
Anonymous guest 30 Mar 2011, 00:20
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"Chinese" walls - Why is everyone so racist ? Just a fancy term which the intellegentsia love dropping of late!
Anonymous guest 30 Mar 2011, 09:31
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The clients probably did not mind AZB on both sides because AZB had only a supporting role to Cov and Deb...?
Anonymous guest 30 Mar 2011, 15:10
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Conflict rules in most jurisdictions would not allow AZB to act for both parties. I guess that given conflict rules are not so well developed in India this is technically possible. However, I am surprised that AZB, as a firm, were comfortable acting for both sides. It just seems a bit odd that you would be comfortable negotiating against your own partner. Query what happens if the JV turns sour and there is a threat of litigation.
Anonymous guest 31 Mar 2011, 05:07
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Simple, the team which handled the transaction in New Delhi will split from AZB for a while and then merge back into the firm when matters improve.
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