Deals Feed

Khaitan & Co overtook Amarchand Mangaldas in data provider mergermarket’s half-yearly (H1) M&A charts by value, with the first quarter of Amarchand functioning as the split firms of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM). AZB & Partners maintained its deal volume lead which it has claimed for two consecutive years.

DSK Legal advised Klenzaids Contamination Controls in selling 49 per cent stake to Robert Bosch Investment Nederland which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

DSK Mumbai co-founding partner Anand Desai, managing associate Pragya Dhamija and associate Prachi Garg acted for Klenzaids, which has a turnover around around EUR 6m, reported trade magazine BioSpectrum.

Khaitan Mumbai partners Rabindra Jhunjhunwala and Niren Patel acted for global Bosch Packaging Technology which has a global turnover of EUR 1.1bn.

In the Bosch-Klenzaids joint venture that will employ around 380 staff Klenzaids will contribute its expertise in clean-room and processing technologies and peripheral systems, and Bosch will take care of innovative filling technologies.

Desai & Diwanji advised British media conglomerate Daily Mail & General Trust’s investment arm DMG Information on its Rs 12.7 crore ($2m) infusion in Mumbai-based, non-brokerage, real estate company Liases Foras which was advised by DM Harish & Co.

D&D partner Siddharth Mody, senior associates Ashraf Lala and Rumma Panchmatia and associate Kumar Yashaswi acted for DMG Information.

DMH partner Anil Harish and associate Sohini Banerjee acted for Liases Foras.

DMG Information made its first strategic investment in May, in Chinese property information company Funcent, followed by investment of $3m in Propstack, reported Business Standard.

Last month Legally India reported that Desai & Diwanji had acted for DMG on its Rs 19 crore investment in commercial real estate company Propstack Services.

AZB & Partners Delhi partner Gautam Saha with senior associate Heena Singh has advised Hector Beverages, which has found big success in selling traditional Indian soft drinks in trendy and hygienic packaging and [ has raised Rs 107 crore ($17m) from Belgium’s Sofina and China’s Hillhouse Capital].

Goodwin Proctor Hong Kong partner Yash Rana advised Hillhouse.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas had advised the Grofers Group - a start-up that delivers groceries and other sundry items to homes from nearby shops - on its $36m investment by Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Apoletto Asia, which closed this week.

Tiger Global was advised by ARA Law managing partner Rajesh Begur and Gunderson Dettmer New-York based senior partner Steven L Baglio.

Sequoia in-house lawyers Tanmay Amar and Sandeep Kapoor briefed Bangalore-based Themis Associates, led by partner Chetan Nagendra, principal associate Ashwani Verma and senior associate Dheeraj Khanna.

Shardul Amarchand partners Prashant Gupta and Puja Sondhi, with principal associate designate Aayush Kapoor, and senior associates Sumeet Singh and Sushrut Biswal acted for the fast-growing e-commerce start-up.

Rajani Singhania & Partners advised surgical sutures maker Stericat Gut Strings on the acquisition of a majority stake in it by French firm Groupe Peters Surgical which was advised by Tatva Legal.

Rajani managing partner Prem Rajani, partner Poorvi Sanjanwala and associates Nishtha Mehta and Kashmira Bakliwal acted for Stericat.

Tatva Delhi partner Simran Singh and lawyer Sumit Khosla acted for Groupe Peters.

The finance ministry rejected the request for approval for the deal on the ground that the acquisition partly involved share swap whereas it had only granted Stericat approval to bring in Rs 43.52 crore of FDI in cash through the sale of 77.5 per cent of its shares to Groupe, reported the PTI.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) advised travel met search website Ixigo’’s owner Le Travenues Technology and its promoters Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar on its fundraising from mobile phone maker Micromax Informatics, which was advised by Indus Law.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) Mumbai-based corporate partner Anshuman Jaiswal advised Ixigo’’s existing investors SAIF Partners and MakeMyTrip.

JSA Bangalore partner Vivek K Chandy and senior associate Siddharth K Vedula acted for Ixigo.

Indus Delhi partner Gaurav Dani, senior associate Divya Varghese and associate Chitvan Bakshi acted for Micromax.

Micromax plans to invest between $500,000 and $20m in over 20 start-ups this year with the help of its newly installed mergers and acquisitions (M&As) team, reported Mint.

In a week that’s seen a raft of companies hitting the markets, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Bangalore partner Arjun Lall has scooped the mandate advising Cafe Coffee Day on its Rs 1,150 crore initial public offering (IPO), with AZB & Partners and Baker & McKenzie acting for the banks.

AZB Delhi partner Madhurima Mukherjee with senior associate Agnik Bhattacharyya and associate Namita Das acted for the global book running lead managers Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup Global Markets and Morgan Stanley.

BakerMacs’ India head Ashok Lalwani handled the international elements of the deal.

Luthra & Luthra is acting for fast-growing RBL Bank of 183 branches, formerly called Ratnakar Bank, which aims to raise Rs 1,100 crore ($173m) via initial public offering (IPO), with AZB & Partners and Dorsey & Whitney acting for the bankers, led by Kotak Mahindra Capital Company.

AZB Mumbai partner Varoon Chandra with senior associate Lionel D’Almeida acted for the lead managers. Dorsey Hong Kong partners John Chrisman and Kenneth Kwok advised on international laws.

Luthra & Luthra Mumbai partner Manan Lahoty acted for the issuers.

Khaitan & Co Mumbai associate partner Madhur Kohli was domestic counsel for two selling shareholders, Beacon and Gpe, that together sold 13 million shares according to the Business Standard.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) acted for Suprajit Engineering Limited, which bought 51 per cent of equity shares of Phoenix Lamps Limited from the Actis Group, which was advised by Platinum Partners and E&Y, followed by an open offer.

JSA Bangalore partners Murali Ananthasivan and Mary Julie John, and Delhi-based partner Amitabh Kumar acted for Suprajit, with senior associate Gautam Shahi and associate Rajashree Balasubramanian. Grant Thornton was the financial adviser to Suprajit.

Platinum Mumbai partner Gautam Bhat acted for Actis.

Both buyer and target are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. SEL is a supplier of cables and components to overseas and domestic customers in the automotive and non-automotive sectors. Phoenix is the largest manufacturer of automotive lamps in India and has three subsidiaries in Europe, according to a JSA release.

SEL acquired 51% equity shares in a first tranche and will complete acquisition of the remaining non-public shareholding of Phoenix in a subsequent tranche post-completion of an open offer, reported Moneycontrol.

Karvy Investor Services acted as adviser to the open offer, without the law firms advising.

Vedanta Resources subsidiaries Vedanta India and Cairn merged, assisted by Khaitan & Co as sole domestic legal adviser, according to its press release, and Ashurst's India practice.

The following Khaitan team advised:

Haigreve Khaitan, Partner; Sharad Abhyankar, Partner; Mehul Shah, Associate Partner; Tarunya Krishnan, Principal Associate and Harsh Kabra, Associate.

The following members assisted the core transaction team:

Corporate Due-Diligence - Soumyadri Chattopadhyaya, Associate; Aayush Mohata, Associate; Parvati Parkkot, Associate and Umang Singh, Associate

Capital Markets – Sudhir Bassi, Executive Director

ESOPs – Daksha Baxi, Executive Director

Energy, Infrastructure and Resources – Dibyanshu, Associate Partner

Ashurst London partners Tom Mercer and Richard Gubbins led the transaction on non-Indian laws, while US securities law partner Stuart Rubin advised from Hong Kong.

Kochhar & Co advised global clinical research conglomerate the Parexel Group and its Indian group company Parexel India on buying for $100m pharma-covigilance company Quantum Solutions India, which was advised by Platinum Partners.

Kochhar senior Delhi-based partner Vijay Ravi, partner Chandrasekhar Tampi and senior associate Sumant Srivastava acted for Parexel India and the Parexel Group.

Platinum’s recent Wadia Ghandy Bangalore joinee and partner Ankit Majmudar and associate Rohan Kumar acted for Quantum and its proprietor Apurva Goswamy.

The acquisition will not significantly impact Parexel’s fiscal year 2015 revenue, reported Mint.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas advised the PVR cinema chain on buying for Rs 500 crore DT Cinemas from DLF Utilities, which was advised by Luthra & Luthra.

According to its press release, Shardul Amarchand partners Akila Agrawal and Sourav Kanti De Biswas acted for PVR, with senior associate Megha Bhargava, and associates Ishita Khandelwal and Rishab Basu.

They were assisted by competition law partners Shweta Shroff Chopra and Aparna Mehra, senior associate Vivek Agarwal and associate Sakshi Sejwal, guided by managing partner Pallavi S Shroff and senior advisor European and competition law, John Handoll.

Long-standing Luthra client DLF was represented by Luthra partner Samir Dudhoria with associates Ankita Kansil and Akshay Jain. ,

The deal will give PVR an additional 29 screens with 6,000 seats in eight locations in the Delhi area and Chandigarh, in addition to its existing 467 screens in 105 locations.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Covington Burling advised the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev on its exit from a joint venture with RJ Corp, which was advised by Dua Associates.

JSA partner Upendra Nath Sharma, senior Associate Rishabh Gupta and associate Ritunjay Gupta with intermitten strategic inputs from JSA chairman and founder Jyoti Sagar acted for the Belgium-headquartered brewery, which will now operate through Crown Beers India.

Dua partner Himanshu Narayan, manager Amarta Roy and associate Shloka acted for RJ Corp.

The deal will allow Anheuser-Busch InBev, whichhas over one-fourth of the world’s market share for beer including brands such as Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Leffe and Hoegaarden, to expand in India independently through additional brand investment and capacity expansion, explained JSA in its press release.

AB InBev will exit the joint venture, paying anywhere between $100m and $150m to Ravi Jaipuria-owned RJ Corp, reported Mint.

S&R Associates acted the Vodafone Group in its sale of $200m Bharti Infotel, representing around 4.2% interest in Bharti Airtel, to Bharti Enterprises, which was represented by AZB & Partners.

S&R partner Rajat Sethi and associates Tanya Aggarwal and Lakshmi Pradeep acted for Vodafone.

AZB Delhi partner Gautam Saha acted for long-standing client Bharti.

The sale was made due to a telecoms department directive restricting any group from holding stakes in more than one telecom licensee in one area, reported Reuters

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) advised Himachal Pradesh-based SBS Biotech on selling for Rs 1,651 crore its hair and scalp care businesses Kesh King and Kesh Pari to FMCG player Emami, which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

SAM partners Jatin Aneja, Anubhuti Agarwal and Dev Robinson, principal associate Siddhartha Sen and associate Madhur Chopra acted for SBS Biotech.

Khaitan partners Haigreve Khaitan and Adheesh Nargolkar, associate partner Surbhi Kejriwal, senior associate Abhishek Thanvi and executive director Dinesh Agarwal acted for Emami.

Kesh King and allied brands had a revenue of Rs 300 crore in 2014-15 and have been growing at an average of 68 per cent a year for the last three years, while Emami, which makes a first foray into the hair and scalp care business with this acquisition, had reported a 20.7 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 486 crore for 2014-15, and a 21.8 per cent rise in revenue to Rs.2,217 crore, reported Mint.

Desai & Diwanji advised British media conglomerate Daily Mail & General Trust’s investment arm DMG Information on its Rs 19 crore ($3m) infusion in Mumbai-based commercial real company Propstack Services which was advised by Hariani & Co.

D&D partner Siddharth Mody, senior associate Ashraf Lala and associates Manav Shah and Santosh Vijay acted for DMG Information.

Hariani & Co senior associate Abhijeet Sonawane and associate Bhanudey Kanwar acted for Propstack and the existing investors.

The online real estate market has recieved significant investment recently from funds, for example, online property classifieds companies Housing.com and Commonfloor.com have collectively raised over $130m since September 2014, reported Mint.

AZB & Partners advised global Argentina-founded IT and software development company Globant on buying, for up to around $25m, Pune-based product engineering firm Clarice Technologies which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

AZB Bangalore partner Anind Thomas and senior associate Percis Anklesaria acted for Globant.

Khaitan Bangalore partner Rajiv Khaitan, associate partner Vinay Joy and associates Karandeep Makkar and Kirti Krishna acted for Clarice.

The deal is worth Rs 125 to Rs 160 crore, reported the Economic Times.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) advised and assisted NIIT Technologies on investing for 51 per cent stake in Incessant Technologies which was advised by DSK Legal.

JSA partner Lalit Kumar, senior associate Bharati Joshi and associate Ritika Arora acted for NIIT Technologies.

DSK partner Ajay Shaw and manager Salma Curmally acted for Incessant.

The deal was worth around Rs 250 crore, reported Mint.

Venture Intelligence, which tracks private equity transactions “involving India-based companies” has published its ranking for the first quarter of 2015.

IndusLaw advised India’s largest taxi aggregator Ola Cabs, backed by Japan’s Softbank Corp, in raising $314m (Rs 1,952 crore) from Russian Yuri Milner’s DST Global which was advised by AZB & Partners and Goodwin Procter.

Indus Delhi partner Gaurav Dani, senior associate Divya Varghese and associate Nitin Gera acted for Ola. AZB Mumbai partner Darshika Kothari and Goodwin partner Yash Rana acted for DST

Gunderson Dettemer partner Steven L Baglio and lawyer Melissa B Marks acted for new investor Internet Fund. Morrison Foerster of counsel James T McCormick and associate Noah Carr acted for SoftBank Internet and Media (SIMI).

In November 2014, Olacabs had raised $210m from SIMI and its existing investors including Tiger Global, Matrix Partners India and Steadview Capital.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) advised alternate asset management firm Tano Capital on investing Rs 60 crore in India’s second NBFC microfinance institution Arohan which was advised by A&M Law Offices.

ELP partner Suhail Naithani, associate partner Vinayak Burman, senior associate Archana Khosla and associate Amoolya Narayan acted for Tano. A&M partner Viral Mehta and associate P Goel acted for Arohan.

Investors and stakeholders are increasingly becoming enthusiastic about microfinance institutions, reported the Business Standard.

Induslaw advised internet and mobile-based classifieds company Quikr Mauritius Holding in raising $150m (over Rs 900 crore) from existing investors Tiger Global, eBay and Sweden’s Kinnevik, and new investor Steadview Capital Management, LTR and ABG Capital, which were advised by Morgan Lewis and Gunderson Dettmer.

Indus partner Gaurav Dani, senior associate Dviya Varghese and associate Nikita Goyal acted for Quickr.

Morgan Lewis Boston partner William Perkins and associate Cindy C Kung advised eBay. Gunderson Beijing partner Christopher D Terry and lawyer Mao Chen acted for Tiger Global affiliate IFPL

The venture competes with Naspers-backed OLX in the P2P classifieds business in India, reported VCCircle.

In what will possibly have been its last quarter of existing as a single firm, Amarchand Mangaldas again acted on the most valuable M&A deals though AZB & Partners emerged as the firm with the largest number of recorded transactions.

Nishith Desai Associates advised Caspian Impact Investments (CII) on its $20m debt financing from the US government’s development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which was advised by Trilegal.

NDA Mumbai partner Nishchal Joshipura and associates Sahil Shah and Nikhil Joseph, with Caspian director Shilpa Sudhakar and in house lawyer Mayank Mishra acted for Caspian.

Trilegal Mumbai partner Ameya Khandge and Sidhharth Saxena acted for OPIC The two-year-old CII supports small business lending, microfinance, food & agriculture and affordable housing business in India, according to Business Insider.

The firm of former AZB & Partners CEO Abhijit Joshi, Veritas Legal, has advised German specialty chemicals company Evonik on its acquisition of Mumbai-based catalyst supplier Monarch Catalyst, which was advised by J Sagar Associates (JSA) partner Sandeep Mehta.

The value of the purchase of the family owned company founded in 1973 was not disclosed. It is expected to close in the first half of 2015, reported Mint.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) advised Reliance Infra on its Rs 819 crore ($130m) acquisition of 18 per cent stake in Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering which was advised by K Law and Crawford Bayley.

Induslaw represented Olacabs, which must fast be turning into one of its most high-profile and valuable clients, in a $200m takeover of TaxiForSure.

Amarchand maintained its standing as India’s clear M&A leader topping the annual chart for the third year in a row.

Bharucha & Partners advised social media giant Twitter on its first acquisition in India, in its $30m buy of missed-call marketing platform ZipDial Mobile Solutions, which was advised by AZB & Partners.