Khaitan & Co Delhi has advised cinema giant and long-standing client Inox on its Rs 182 crore complete acquisition of Satyam Cineplexes, which drafted in Luthra & Luthra.

Khaitan Delhi partner Bharat Anand led on the deal for Inox, together with associate partner Joyjyoti Misra assisted by direct tax executive director Daksha Baxi and indirect tax executive director Arvind Baheti and associate partner Kabir Bogra. Grant Thornton Advisory was financial adviser to the deal.

Anand, commenting on Khaitan’s long-standing relationship with Inox, said that an Inox acquisition was actually the first deal he worked on when he returned to India in 2009 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Khaitan Mumbai partners Haigreve Khaitan and Rabindra Jhunjhunwala have been advising the acquisitive cinema group on many other deals.

In 2010, for instance, Khaitan acted for Inox in its Rs 66 crore stake purchase of the Fame India multiplex chain.

my first deal when i came back to india was for Inox - when they bought a facility in Houston - and haigreve.

Luthra’s team for Satyam is understood to have been led by senior partner Bobby Chandhoke, with BMR Advisors handling financial advice for the company.

The deal, which includes Inox taking on Rs 60 crore of Satyam’s debt and the repayment of Satyam-investor IFCI, would give this a total deal size of Rs 240 crore, reported Mint. Inox’s footprint will expand to 358 screens in 50 cities and 91 cinemas with Satyam, within touching distance of market leader PVR that has 421 screens.

Photo by Leo Hidalgo