Platinum joins on Bharti Airtel - MTN merger

Thursday, 2 July 2009 By Kian Ganz Corporate M&A

Platinum Partners has joined the team of legal advisers on the MTN – Bharti Airtel merger talks alongside four other firms on what could be India’s largest cross-border deal to date with a value of around $23bn (Rs 110,000 crore).

Several authoritative sources have confirmed to Legally India that Platinum has been instructed by South African telecoms giant MTN, which retains Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as its international counsel.

Platinum co-founding partner Karam Daulet-Singh is understood to be leading MTN’s team from Delhi, although no official announcement has been made.

Platinum and Freshfields often work together but they do not have a public best friends arrangement.

AZB & Partners continue advising Bharti Airtel with Delhi partners Ajay Bahl and Gautam Saha leading the team (as first reported on LegallyIndia.com 25 May)

According to market speculation it is likely that further Indian and international firms will be instructed if the complex deal progresses, although no public appointments have been made yet.

Those firms would most likely include international counsel for the consortium of banks and advice on discrete issues of Indian law.

Bharti’s South African counsel is local firm law firm Bowman Gilfillan and MTN’s South African counsel is Webber Wentzel.

All firms on the transaction declined to comment.

Comments

Guest 2 Jul 2009, 20:58

+0 -0

I like the line
Platinum and Freshfields often work together but they do not have a public best friends arrangement.

By the way Clifford Chance in its statement issued on its annual accounts has admitted that there was also a small cost incurred when the firm signed a best friends relationship with Indian firm AZB & Partners.
See http://www.thelawyer.com/1001228.article

So is this a best friend's relationship or advance payment to AZ&B?

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