Reliance Industries with AZB buys $217m of Khaitan & Co-client Oberoi

oberoi-trident-hotel_by_Humayunn_NA_Peerzaada
oberoi-trident-hotel_by_Humayunn_NA_Peerzaada
AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co have assisted in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Rs 1020 crore ($217m) buy today of a 14.12 per cent stake in the Oberoi hotel and resort chain owners.

AZB & Partners co-founding partner Zia Mody is understood to have led for Reliance Industries on its investment.

Khaitan & Co partners Haigreve Khaitan and tax partners Daksha Baxi and Sanjay Sanghvi are understood to be leading the team for the selling shareholders in Oberoi Hotels & Resorts’ parent company EIH Ltd, Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi and Aravali Polymers LLP.

With the buy of 55.5m shares in EIH, Mukesh Ambani has made his first foray into the hospitality sector.

The transaction was announced by both companies earlier today.

[Correction 11:26am: An earlier version of the story erroneously stated that Khaitan & Co advised EIH Ltd, when in fact the firm advised the sellers.]

Photo by Humayunn N A Peerzaada

Comments

Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 02:17
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Flurry of Khaitan deals!
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 04:49
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Khaitan & Co truly d most active firm in d market.. marching way ahead of d contemporaries..
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 06:15
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OMG not another one of these free publicity articles! How about telling us about the young startups instead? Why don't you tell us about the companies they advise? Or does LI only give publicity to SILF members?
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 09:03
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reading comprehension clearly not your strong point, there was an article on LI yesterday on a "young startup".

http://www.legallyindia.com/201008301238/Private-equity-/-VC/lexcounsel-continues-carving-out-education-sector-focus-with-educomp-leapstart-investments

This deal is big ticket stuff, especially for khaitan. I am happy to read about it, please keep up the good reporting, it's the best way of keeping in touch from London.
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 14:42
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#3 I don't think Khaitan is a SILF member
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 14:49
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I like these posts since this site is aimed for all types of ppl related to law starting from students to corporates to lawyers I think all info related to law should be posted. I doubt therz other good source for someone to pickup info about Indian law scene be it courts or elsewhere.
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 16:04
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@#2: Just because other firms don't publicize their work on Legally India or through other forums doesn't mean they aren't doing well or that Khaitan is "marching ahead of its contemporaries". The only place Khaitan is marching ahead is in terms of their people who handle publicity so well!
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 16:34
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@4: All the big firms in India advise leading companies. AMSS, AZB, Luthra do lots of deals like these and it is hardly big news. I know that Khaitan feels very excited at having done such a deal, good luck to them, but I think it is more creditable if a young firm does such a deal. The young firms need to be encouraged.

Also, why doesn't LI tell us about the pro bono work done by the big firms? Is it because they do not do any and only remember Gandhi while opposing foreign law firms?
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 16:37
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#3: Dude whats your problem? Startups are not active in the deal market.. Reporting deal is like news reporting, firms advising corporates on the deals find a mention.. since the start-ups really are not much active in the deals market: they don't feature.. Don't see why that should hurt your sentiments.. Besides as pointed out by #4 legallyindia does provide articles about start-ups.. #4 mentions one.. i can mention so many more.. but don't quite wish to waste my time doing the same..
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 17:17
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@4
Coherent grammatical construction is clearly not your strong point.

Just saying.
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 17:45
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@2: There is a limit to exaggerating. Do you really mean that Khaitan is more active than AMSS? I challenge you to produce statistics.
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 17:50
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I have been saying this for a long time now : Oberoi's run awesome hotels, but unfortunately a lot of them dont make money.

most of the vilas properties are run in the red and the sheer project cost of these hotels makes them very very difficult to digest. you need someone with deep deep pockets.

Mukesh Ambani is just the man.

here is what i think will happen:

1. expect management changes within 6 months - 1 yr (especially the project & finance areas)
2. expect an open offer within 1 - 2 yrs
3. expect rapid expansion
4. expect brand change within 3 yrs

I dont think this is purely an investment from Reliance. I would like to think that it would be similar to Four Seasons or Aman (in both cases the original owners retained 3-4% ownership in the company and no brand changes were made), but I dont think so.

Mr. Oberoi will be around. The family (along with Mr. Analjit Singh) might own 10% or so eventually, but sooner than later you will see the Reliance stamp all over the company.
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 19:21
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#11 I agree with you. No statistics can ever be produced where any firm can be shown more active than AMSS. Of course no firm can beat AMSS, and for that matter even AZB. They are King and Queen of Indian law firms. How dare Khaitan or any other law firm even try to do well! Even though this is an era of consumerism, Indian corporates should have limited options for their legal advisors so that only King and Queen continue to make money.
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 21:49
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Forget AZB, AMSS, Luthra or Khaitan here...guys we are talking about Reliance here! And now the richest man in the country has made his foray into the hospitality sector too..and this is just the beginning..one day will come when there will be nothing in India except Reliance...they truly follow their famous tagline..."kar lo duniya mutthi mein!!"
Anonymous guest 31 Aug 2010, 21:52
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there is no way khaitan can be positioned in the same bracket as AMSS and AZB, its only khaitan bombay which is active on the deal fronts, delhi office has a lot of catching up to do.Khaitan Kolkatta has genuflected to the bandh culture and Bangalore office remains as the most hopeless office in the whole country..so khaitan bombay is the only deal generator, rest are jus eating up on the good work of Mr.Haigreve.
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 01:21
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Seems to be a contest between cheerleaders of KCO and AMSS/AZB
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 05:16
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i see many mention AMSS, Luthra are very active in deal market..their deals however not getting reported because they do not wish to publicize.. seriously? i l quote 'thomson reuters mid market m & a review of 1st half 2010'.. Based on value: AZB 1, Khaitan 7, AMSS 20, Luthra 28. Based on number of deals: AZB 1, Khaitan 4, AMSS 20, Luthra 30. The review is a coverage of top 30 firms of the world as on July 7, 2010 in m & a. Other firms in the top 10 are: wong partnership, freshfields, jones day, allen overy, clifford chance, grandall, skadden, linklaters..

2009 standings: azb 1, khaitan 5, amss 35, luthra 25.

Since guys at AMSS seems to boast a lot..thought of sharing some trustworthy (yet interesting) info.. i guess: if it is, then it is.. if it aint, then its aint.. if i m the king as mentioned above, i'd be really worried.. ;-)
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 05:18
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is khaitan a law firm? never heard of it. is it owned by the people who own khaitan fans?
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 05:49
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who's dis amarchand mangaldass? whats their story apart from making the firm's name sound so lengthly like the most Jewish firms which just never seem to end..
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 19:16
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Dear Statistics!

Great inputs buddy.. seems the amss cheerleaders are down with 'reality shock'!
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 21:48
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in all the din - people are forgetting the leadership position of azb. sitting here in Singapore, it looks like this firm has more business than a magic circle firm. it has done something like 18 billion dollars of m&a activity. in 2 weeks it has done the vedanata deal and now the RIL deal. truly amazing.
Anonymous guest 1 Sept 2010, 22:08
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#21 - agree buddy. why is it that AZB is in all RIL deals ? looks like the firm's representation on the family settlement for elder ambani and the winning gas litigation in supreme court is making the Firm the new flavour for the big daddies of indian corporates.
Anonymous guest 4 Sept 2010, 22:10
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Legal Advisors Ranking M&A H1

Only 5 Indian Firms in Honk Kong India China malaysia region.

Rank 1-AZB
Rank 2-Khaitan
Rank 3-P. H. Bathiya
Rank 4-Amarchand
Rank 5-Luthra

Link for rankings: http://www.2shared.com/document/VhT4g3UX/Small_Cap_-_Honk_Kong_China_In.html
Anonymous guest 6 Sept 2010, 04:33
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Finally this thread finds peace.. statistics seems to have helped us sort out the leaders and also the boasters.. dis s y i like legallyindia threads comments.. always an eye-opener..