Deals Feed
The latest deals involving Indian companies and law firms.
Deals in brief
Amarchand, AZB, Khaitan, Crawford Bayley and S&R Associates wrap up the last five deals of 2012..
Private equity / VC
DSK Legal advised India Value Fund Advisors’ (IVFA) trustee IVF Trustee Company in its Rs 1000 crore ($181m) investment in Bangalore-based Manipal Health Enterprises which was advised by Tatva Legal.
Deals in brief
J Sagar Associates (JSA) advised online classifieds business Info Edge in its private equity investment, and German glass maker Gerresheimer Glas GmbH in its acquisition, for the second-time this year.
Info Edge invested Rs 5 crore ($9,06,455) for a 25 per cent stake in portal Happily Unmarried, while Gerresheimer bought a 75 per cent stake in Delhi-based pharmaceutical plastics-maker Triveni Polymers which was advised by Desai & Diwanji and BMR Advisors. Happily Unmarried was advised in-house.
JSA Gurgaon partner Rohitashwa Prasad with senior associate Abhishek Shinde acted for Info Edge, as they had done on its Rs 35 crore investment in Canvera Digital Technologies in September.
Mumbai partners Vikram Raghani and Anish Mashruwala, with senior associates Anand Lakra and associates Bir Bahadur S Sachar and Delna Aga acted for Gerresheimer, as they had in May on its 70 per cent acquisition in Neutral Glass, before Mashruwala was made partner.
Desai & Diwanji Delhi partner Amit Khansaheb and BMR Advisors associate Rohit Berry acted for Triveni Polymers.
Info Edge, which owns job portal Naukri and real estate portal 99 acres, has bought optional fully convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares of Happily Unmarried, to expand its online business through this website, according to Medianama
Gerresheimer is looking to double its revenues in emerging markets, like India, from EUR 100 million in 2010 to EUR 200 million in 2013, and achieved emerging market revenues of about EUR 140 million last year, according to Business Standard.
Capital Markets
AZB & Partners advised veteran client diversified technology and manufacturing major Honeywell Asia Pacific in its Rs 130 crore ($25m) sale of 6.24 per cent stake in its subsidiary Honeywell Automation India in an offer for sale through the stock exchange (OFS).
Amarchand Mangaldas and Herbert Smith Freehills advised Deutsche Equities India which was the stock broker for the OFS.
AZB & Partners Delhi co-founding partner Ajay Bahl with partner Anil Kasturi and senior associate Aparna Mehra acted for Honeywell with which Bahl’s relationship dates back to the early 1990s, he told Legally India.
Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai capital markets partners Yash Asher and Gaurav Gupte acted for Deutsche Equities India, with Herbert Smith Freehills Singapore counsel Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan.
Honeywell offloaded 5,51,333 shares as part of this OFS, to bring down the promoters’ holding to 75 per cent as per SEBI’s directive on minimum public shareholding, according to Money Control.
Corporate M&A
DSK Legal, with German law firm Luther LLP, advised Switzerland-based road construction equipment maker Ammann group in its Rs 280 crore ($51m) buy of 70 per cent equity in Gujarat’s Apollo group’s road-equipment business. Apollo was advised by Desai & Diwanji.
DSK Legal Mumbai partners Raksha Kothari and Nirav Shah with associates Karuna Thapa, Gaurav Mistry and Malabika Boruah, and Luther Frankfurt partner Jorg Sommer acted for Ammann which will form a 70:30 construction equipment joint venture (JV) with Apollo Earthmovers, according to DSK Legal.
Desai & Diwanji Mumbai partner Vihang Virkar with associate partner Aneesh Gupte acted for the Apollo Group.
The newly formed road-construction equipment JV – Apollo Construction Equipment (ACEL) - is valued at Rs 400 crore and Apollo group’s asphalt plants and the paver business will be transferred to ACEL on a slump sale basis, according to VC Circle.
Deals in brief Nine of the biggest recent deals and cases. Click on to read who bagged them…
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas, with Jones Day, advised healthcare BPO Apollo Health Street (AHSL) and its promoters in selling out for Rs 1000 crore ($184m) to US-headquartered BPO Sutherland Global Services (SGS). SGS was advised by S&R Associates and Latham & Watkins.
Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff with Bangalore corporate partner Reeba Chacko, and Jones Day Ohio counsel Deepak Reddy acted for AHSL and its shareholders Apollo Hospitals, Maxwell, Eliza Holdings and Healthcare Investments.
Apollo Hospitals holds 40 per cent in AHSL and the rest of the shareholders are private equity investors. AHSL has 150 clients in India, according to Reuters.
S&R Associates Delhi partners Rajat Sethi and Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan, with associates Radhika Iyer, Dhruv Nath, Radhika Agrawal and Lakshmi Pradeep, and Latham & Watkins Silicon Valley partner Tony Richmond acted for SGS, which belongs to multinational conglomerate Sutherland group.
SGS is one of the largest independent BPOs in the world with over 30,000 employees globally, according to the DNA.
Sutherland outbid BPO Genpact to buy AHSL, reported The Hindu.
Corporate M&A
Chennai-based start-up Vichar Partners has advised Sree Ramcides Chemicals on its Yen 1,495 million (Rs 98 crore) acquisition by Japanese company SDS Biotech KK, which was advised by Alliance Legal and Jones Day.
Corporate M&A
PXV Law Partners advised its old client Aurora Integrated Systems and its promoters in selling out to Tata group’s Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) which was advised by AZB & Partners.
PXV Law Partners partners Deepto Roy and Pingal Khan with associate Namritha Joseph acted for the Bangalore-based Aurora which claims to be India’s leading system integrator offering field tested UAS technology. It started up in March 2011, backed by the Tata group.
AZB & Partners Bangalore partners Vivek Bajaj and Niyatha Srinivasa with associate Vydyanathan L acted for TASL which is the wholly owned aircraft and defense systems subsidiary of Tata Sons.
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co, with Herbert Smith Freehills, advised the Japanese Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory (OPF), in co-investing Rs 1050 crore ($193m) in Indian pharma company Claris Lifesciences, to form a joint venture (JV). Claris was advised by AZB & Partners. Japan’s Mitsui & Co, advised by Amarchand Mangladas, was the other investor.
Deals in brief
This week’s instructions starring: Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co, Vaish Associates, Talwar Thakore & Associates, Desai & Diwanji and Khaitan Sud & partners, with Linklaters, Cleary Gotlieb and WongPartnership
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi advised cinema chain PVR, which is buying rival chain Cinemax India by acquiring shares from the promoter – who are advised by Wadia Ghandy - and a subsequent open offer valued at around Rs 540 crore ($100m).
Deals in brief
Khaitan & Co, Amarchand Mangaldas, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Naik Naik & Co, ALMT Legal, PRA Law Offices and Vaish Associates on some of the week’s top deals.
Corporate M&A
Fox Mandal advised Japanese tourism and logistics company Nissin Corporation in buying 44 per cent stake in its Indo-Japanese joint venture (JV) Nissin ABC Logistics, from JV partner ABC India. Amarchand Mangaldas advised ABC India.
Fox Mandal Kolkata partner Shourya Mandal acted for Nissin Corporation.
Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partner Kalpataru Tripathy with principal associate Abhishek Guha, senior associate Saurya Bhattacharya and associate Roopal Banthia acted for ABC India.
Deals in brief
Supporting cast: Yash Raj Films, Gruner+Jahr, MakeMytrip, DLF, Tata, Fidelity, CESC, IFC, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, Wells Fargo, Newscorp, CEAT, Dhunseri, Everstone, Mayfield, Linde, GTL, Sintex, Mahindra & Mahindra, DISA. Starring: Amarchand Mangaldas, JSA, AZB, Indus, HSA, Naik, Khaitan & Co and international talent.
Corporate M&A
Breaking: Platinum Partners and Slaughter and May advised London-based drinks giant Diageo on its overall complete £1.28bn (Rs 11,166 crore) acquisition of Vijay Mallya-promoted United Spirits, which was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai office, as well as Kanga & Co and Herbert Smith Freehills.
Corporate M&A
PXV Law Partners, together with its French best friend firm DS Avocats, acted for French $1.9bn agricultural conglomerate Groupe Limagrain that bought Delhi-based vegetable seeds maker Century Seeds, represented by Bangalore firm Narasappa Doraswamy Raja.
PXV stepped up with partners GT Thomas Phillippe and Anuj Sahay and senior associate Shivani Chugh for Groupe Limagrain, which also drew on French firm DS Avocats partner Olivier Monange at home.
DS Avocats had entered into a best friendship with RDA Legal, as PXV was called in 2010.
Narasappa Doraswamy partner Harish Narasappa represented Century Seeds.
According to the Economic Times the French company paid between Rs 140-145 crore ($25-26m) in an all-cash deal, in one of the largest M&A deals in the seeds space.
Corporate M&A
Exclusive: Desai & Diwanji has acted for Eureka Forbes in its 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Khaitan & Co-advised Waterlogic, which will develop water purification products together over five years, investing $10m (Rs 54 crore).
Corporate M&A
Exclusive: Udwadia Udeshi & Argus Partners (UUA) have advised Magma Fincorp, which today announced it would acquire home loan portfolios worth more than Rs 1,600 crore from GE Capital India, which was advised by AZB & Partners.
Corporate M&A
Platinum Partners with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised UK oil and gas major BG Group on its sale of state-owned Gujarat Gas Company for over Rs 2,400 crore to Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s (GSPC) subsidiary GSPC Distribution Networks, involving India’s first long form merger control clearance.
Litigation
LexCounsel with Hariani & Co and Bachubhai Munim & Co advised television news channel Zee News and its executives in its Rs 150 crore defamation cross-claim filed in the Bombay high court against congress MP and Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) owner Naveen Jindal.
Jindal was advised by Khaitan & Co in his Rs 200 crore defamation suit filed in the high court on Thursday against the news channel.
Deals in brief
Amarchand, Luthra, Khaitan, JSA, AZB, ARA, Rajani, HSA, KSP and Majmudar lead in the latest round-up of intercontinental multi-million dollar deals...
Private equity / VC
Dua & Associates advised domestic private equity (PE) fund Aditya Birla Sunrise in its Rs 53.5 crore ($10m) investment in fine dining restaurant chain Olive Bar & Kitchen which was advised by Naik & Naik.
Deals in brief
Trilegal, Amarchand Mangaldas, Singh & Singh, Link Legal, AZB & Partners, Vichar Partners, Universal Legal, Dua Associates, DSK Legal, White & Case, Nishith Desai & Associates, Desai & Diwanji, and more in the latest top instructions for law firms and lawyers…
Capital Markets
Vaish Associates advised auto-parts maker Amtek India in raising Rs 375 crore ($70mn) through issue of 2.5 per cent foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB). Linklaters and Trilegal advised the Singapore-incorporated DBS bank which was the guarantor, and the bank’s Indian branch which was the lead manager in the issue.
Vaish Associates Delhi partner Satwinder Singh with principal associates Manish Tully and Sushma Mathur and associate Sougata Kundu acted for Amtek India, which issued FCCB convertible at Rs 103.005 per equity share of the company according to Post Jagran.
Trilegal Mumbai partner Srinivas Parthasarthy with senior associate Anil Choudhary and associates Priyanka Kumar and Smriti Bahety, and Linklaters Singapore counsel Aditya Shroff acted for DBS Bank India and Singapore.
The issue, raised on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is Amtek’s second round of FCCB-fund raising in less than six months. Vaish Associates also advised the company in the first round in April 2012, when funds worth Rs 650 crore ($130m) were raised on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Corporate M&A
Desai & Diwanji advised hospitality group Interglobe hotels, on its multi-million dollar purchase of the issue share capital of steel maker Isha Steel Treatment, which was advised by Wadia Ghandy.
Desai & Dewanji Bombay partners Jai Diwanji and Ruzbeh Mistry, associate partner Sidhharth Mody, senior associate Shakti Singh Champawat and associate Karni Singh acted for the hotel developer, which is a joint venture between conglomerate Interglobe Enterprises and international hotel chain Accor.
Wadia Ghandy Mumbai partner Dhawal Mehta, senior associate Rati Lodha and associate Shruti Manglik acted for Isha Steel Treatment.
Litigation
Amarchand Mangaldas and senior counsel Gopal Subramanium acted for YSR Congress party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to whom the Supreme Court today denied bail in the money-laundering case against him.
Deals in brief
The latest deals in one place: Khaitan for Kingfisher, Heidelberg, Hutchison Whampoa | AMSS for Mitsui, Schneider, Alstom, Siemens, RTL, IDFC | Siemens: AMSS-Jones Day & more.
Deals in brief
When miners, car importers, cricket team owning media houses and tobacco producers marched to the referees, the advisors won. Here’s presenting firsts in CCI orders, the post-Bhatia International field, errant Deccan Chargers’ owners and more…
Deals in brief
JSA, HSA, Khaitan, Dua and Amarchand eat, pray, love Sushi, drugs, classifieds and the markets...
Corporate M&A
Khaitan & Co and Baker & McKenzie again advised leading global injectable generic drugs maker Hospira and its Indian subsidiary Hospira Healthcare India (HHI) in its Rs 1100 crore ($200m) acquisition of Chennai-based global pharma major Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals’ penicillin and penem making facility and research & development business. Orchid was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas and Latham & Watkins.
Private equity / VC
Exclusive: Desai & Diwanji advised India’s largest entertainment ticketing website BookMyShow in the Rs 100 crore ($18m) capital and equity infusion to be made in it by global internet-business venture capitalist (VC) Accel Partners, advised by IndusLaw.
Private equity / VC
Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai and Delhi advised Bain Capital with US firm Ropes & Gray in the $1bn purchase of 30 per cent of shares in global outsourcer Genpact, which was advised by Cravath Swaine & Moore. Two selling private equity funds were assisted by Nishith Desai Associates and Paul Weiss.
Deals in brief Deals in private equity, corporate M&A, sports-media law, and competition law merger control in this update.
Deals in brief
More deals than you can shake a stick at in our handy round-up of deals activity, with dozens of firms keeping busy.
Litigation
ALMT Legal won a stay on the Maharashtra state government’s order to destroy the gutka and paan masala siezed from tobacco major Ghodawat Pan Masala Products (Ghodawat) and five other gutka makers, in the Bombay high court yesterday.
Corporate M&A
Verus advised India-based leading global wind-power company and longstanding client Suzlon Energy (Suzlon) in the Rs 160 crore ($40m) sale of its 58 MW wind-farm Suzlon Engitech to an undisclosed purchaser, which was advised by Desai & Diwanji.
Projects
Exclusive: Link Legal pipped last year’s leader Amarchand Mangaldas at the top of the 2012-half-year Dealogic project finance rankings, reporting seven deals worth Rs 27,106 crore ($4.9bn).
Deals in brief
Corporate M&As continued to buttress law firm activity, while one NUJS graduate sweated it out with a high profile Delhi high court case. Khaitan & Co also kept busy in finance and capital markets, and projects and private equity proved solid.
Private equity / VC
Exclusive: PXV Law Partners advised its long standing client, prepaid payments program manager TranServ, in its sale of equity to venture capital (VC) fund Nirvana Venture Advisors, which was advised by Nishith Desai Associates.
Finance
Trilegal advised ICICI Bank and a consortium of lending banks in the Rs 8,300 crore ($1.5bn) debt restructuring of Mumbai-based engineering and construction major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) which was advised by Amarchand Mangaldas.
Private equity / VC
Exclusive: J Sagar Associates (JSA), Nishith Desai Associates (NDA), Fox Mandal, international law firms Linklaters and two European firms, advised a consortium of investors led by Dutch pension services provider APG, in their Rs 770 crore ($141m) co-investment in Godrej’s Indian residential projects.
Litigation
Breaking: Fox Mandal advised nine international cricketers who yesterday filed in the Bombay high court to liquidate ALMT Legal-advised Essel Sports (ESPL), the sports-entertainment wing of business conglomerate Essel Group.
Deals in brief
Juris Corp, I&S Associates, Indus Law, MDP & Partners, along with Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co, Luthra & Luthra, Trilegal and others kept busy on 15 selected deals.
M&As and capital markets transactions take a marginal lead over litigation, competition and private equity and venture capital deals, in our three-week roundup.
Litigation
Breaking: Following the recent trend set by the Delhi high court since 2011, the Bombay high court passed its first ex parte, unconditional “John Doe” order to pre-emptively ban the piracy of Viacom 18 Motion Pictures film Gangs of Wasseypur, said the company’s lawyers Naik Naik & Co.
Deals in brief
This fortnight’s deals package conspicuously features international investors, not only in terms of cross-border M&As and investments but also on the litigation side.
Capital Markets
LI-Mint exclusive: Law firms saw a slump in earnings from their capital markets business in the year that ended March. Many that had invested heavily in the practice during the boom years adopted various strategies to cope with the decline.
Corporate M&A
Exclusive: Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB with international firms Jones Day and Penningtons advised Bharti Airtel on its $165m purchase of Qualcomm 4G spectrum licences in India, according to several sources close to the deal.
Corporate M&A
AZB & Partners and international law firm Shearman & Sterling advised a Canadian financial holdings company’s investment subsidiary Fairbridge Capital in its purchase of 76.81 per cent equity for Rs 817 crore ($150m) in British holiday maker Thomas Cook Group’s (TCG) Indian subsidiary Thomas Cook India (TCIL). TCG was advised by Trilegal with international best friend law firm Allen & Overy.
Corporate M&A
J Sagar Associates (JSA) and international law firm DLA Piper advised Dutch pension services provider APG Strategic Real Estate pool Netherlands in its Rs 650 crore ($123m) investment in leading Indian hotel chain Lemon Tree Hotels and its subsidiary Fleur Hotels which were advised by AZB & Partners.
Deals in brief
Mergers and joint ventures lead last month’s largest deals, while private equity, capital markets, litigation and competition policy also nestle in.
Corporate M&A Fox Mandal Bangalore instructed by US law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati (WSGR) advised business and professional networking website LinkedIn on its Rs 632 crore ($118m) acquisition of presentation sharing service Slideshare which was advised by US law firm Fenwick & West LLP.
Finance
Khaitan & Co advised public sector undertaking Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) in its external commercial borrowing (ECB) of Rs 1,343 crore ($250m) from State Bank of India, Singapore which was advised by Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow and Dua Associates.
Deals in brief
Last month’s largest deals and the legal advisers that guided and benefited from them.
Corporate M&A
Bharucha & Partners advised Axis Bank that sold 25 per cent of its shares in Axis Asset Management to Amarchand Mangaldas-advised Schroders.
Corporate M&A
J Sagar Associates advised TVS Logistics Services, opposite AZB & Partners’ Mumbai and Delhi offices that respectively advised Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) on its first round of funding and Goldman Sachs on its second investment into the Indian logistics company that has plans to aggressively expand abroad.
Corporate M&A
AZB & Partners advised Nasdaq-listed information technology services company iGate Corp in its Rs 1,400 crore ($271m) voluntary delisting of its Mumbai-based unit Patni computer systems, which was jointly advised by Wadia Ghandy and international law firm Hogan Lovells.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas and Luthra & Luthra have each racked up over $10bn worth of deals to top the M&A Indian mergermarket league table for the first quarter of 2012, displacing 2011 first quarter (Q1) frontrunner AZB & Partners.
Corporate M&A
Amarchand Mangaldas’ Bangalore office advised Japan’s largest non-life insurer Mitsui Sumitomo in its Rs 2,731 crore ($530m) purchase of 26 per cent in the joint venture (JV) of Indian insurer Max India and US insurer New York Life Insurance, which were respectively advised by AZB & Partners and Paul Weiss, and Platinum Partners and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.