Kishore Biyani has surrendered the ‘crown jewel’ of the Future Group by selling his retail business to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail in a stunning reversal of fortunes for a businessman who was once celebrated as India’s Retail King.

— Moneycontrol

Trilegal advised Future Group led by a team including partners Nishant Parikh, Yogesh Bhattarai, Ashwyn Misra, Harsh Maggon and Harsh Jain, counsels Ankit Kejriwal and Aakriti Shakdher, senior associates Sibani Saxena, Swapnil Phadnis, Jenisha Parikh and Sagar Godbole, and associates Harshavardhan Goel, Diksha Maheshwari, Vatsla Bhardwaj, Mahima Priyani, Ratnavel Pandian, Paridhi Srivastava and Amol Mehta. The Trilegal competition team on the deal was led by national head and partner Nisha Kaur Uberoi, with counsel Gautam Chawl and counsel Rahul Satyan, as well as associates Tanveer Verma, Gajendra Bhansali and Ankita Dhawan.

Wadia Ghandy also acted for the Future Group.

Two firms were joint counsel for the Reliance parent company: Khaitan and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas having advised the retail arm of Reliance.

Khaitan & Co advised the Reliance Group, led by a team of partner Haigreve Khaitan, partner Mehul Shah, partner Vivek Sriram, along with assistance from partners Rajeev Vidhani, Harsh Parikh, Shailendra Bhandare, Anisha Chand and Rusha Mitra and their teams.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co advised Reliance Group led by executive chairman Shardul Shroff, and equity partner Puja Sondhi together with partner Sumeet Singh. Managing partner Pallavi Shroff provided strategic advice on the deal, with additional support to the transaction team from partner Promode Murugavelu. Due diligence was led by the transaction team and also included partners Puja Sondhi and Sumeet Singh with specialist real estate partner Mrinal Kumar, litigation partner Nitesh Jain, intellectual property partner J V Abhay, employment partner Pooja Ramchandani, data privacy partner Shahana Chatterjee and insurance partner Ashish Teni. The competition law team on the transaction is led by managing partner Pallavi Shroff, together with partners Shweta Shroff Chopra, Aparna Mehra and Manika Brar.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas acted for the specific Reliance retail subsidiary, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), providing advice, review of the structure and all documentation, led by partners L Viswanathan, Nivedita Rao and Shishir Vayttaden.

Update 31 August 2020: The RRVL press release announcing the acquisition notes:

Shardul Amarchand Mandgaldas and Khaitan & Co acted as the legal counsels for the transaction and advised and assisted Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Reliance Retail and Fashion Lifestyle Limited (RRFLL) in the due diligence, scheme of arrangement, documentation and other aspects of the transaction. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, being the legal advisor to RRVL for its restructuring and fund-raising activities, advised on the structuring aspects of the transaction.

Deal value: The deal is valued at INR 24,713 crore, subject to adjustments

This deal report is based on a firm's press release and may be only partially complete. Some firms or names of advisers may be therefore be missing.