Online payment and e-commerce platform, Paytm has made a strategic investment in the resultant joint entity of hyper local deals discovery platforms Nearbuy and Little Internet by infusing fresh funds of over Rs 162 crores ($25m) and acquiring a majority stake of 51%, reported The Economic Times and Mint. The merged entity expected to be valued over $100m and hold a market share of 88%, is said to have been arranged by Paytm as a strategic move to provide their merchant partners an opportunity to offer deals to acquire new customers and grow their business.

IndusLaw Bangalore acted as the legal advisors to Little Internet and was represented by partners Suneeth Katarki and Winnie Shekhar and senior associate Aakash Dasgupta.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted for One97 Communications in the transaction and was led by partners Raghubir Menon and Ekta Gupta along with senior associate Aritra Roy, while partner Amit Khansahib acted for GIC, the existing shareholder of Little.

Eversheds Harry Elias was represented by partner Sze Hui Goh for Nearbuy Singapore.

J Sagar Associates acted as the Indian legal advisors to Groupon, shareholder of Nearbuy Singapore, and was led by partner Rupinder Malik, principal associate Revathy Muralidharan and associate Avani Verma. Partner Kumarmanglam Vijay advised on certain tax related aspects of the deal documentation.

Winston & Strawn acted as the US legal counsel to Groupon in the transaction, led by partner John Albers.

Formerly part of Groupon, Nearbuy parted from its parent in 2015 and was later re-branded as Nearbuy after the promoters of the Indian arm and private equity investor Sequoia Capital India pumped in funds. Sequoia will continue to be a shareholder in the combined entity, post the merger.

2017-12-07