IndusLaw
IndusLaw advised Olacabs on raising $500m (Rs 3,320 crore) from 15 investors, some of which were advised by Nishith Desai Associates (NDA), Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and foreign law firms Goodwin Proctor, Gunderson Dettemer, Morrison & Foerster, Ropes & Gray and Fangda Partners.
IndusLaw added Ray Vikram Nath – a registered foreign attorney in Japan – to build its Japan practice. Nath joins Indus Delhi as a senior associate.
AZB & Partners advised former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin and his family on their acquisition of a minority stake in ANI Technologies which runs taxi app Ola. Ola was advised by IndusLaw.
AZB Delhi partner Anil Kasturin and senior associate Jaishree Tolani acted for Sarin who, as Mint reported, is joining Ola as an independent director.
Indus declined to comment but it is understood that Noida partner Gaurav Dani led the deal for Ola.
Founded in January 2011 by two IIT Bombay alumni, Ola currently plies over 20,000 vehicles in over 100 Indian cities, is backed by investors such as DST Global, GIC, Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Tiger Global Management LLC, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners, acquired rival TaxiForSure this year in a deal worth $200m, and is being investigated for predatory pricing allegations in the Competition Commission of India, even as the Delhi high court imposed a ban on it.
Indus Law advised India’s third-largest drug maker Cipla on its Rs 90 crore ($13m) buy of cosmetics maker Percos india’s brand rights. Percos was advised by N South Law Associates.
Indus partner Nishant Singh, senior associate Aditi Verma Thakur and associates Vaibhav Ganjiwale, Ramya Sridhar and Chhavi Jhanji acted for Cipla on the deal which, according to Business Today was valued at Rs 90 crore.
N South Law partner Inderraj Gill acted for Percos India which manufactures a wide array of skin care products.
According to the agreement signed by the two companies, Percos will continue to manufacture the products for five years, after which the rights will be transferred to Cipla, as confirmed by the Economic Times.
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.
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.
IndusLaw promoted Bangalore dispute resolution principal associate Lomesh Kiran Nidumuri to partnership, taking its partner count to 12 across all offices.
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.
Induslaw represented Olacabs, which must fast be turning into one of its most high-profile and valuable clients, in a $200m takeover of TaxiForSure.
Induslaw advised online and app-based taxi booking service Olacabs in raising Rs 1281 crore ($210m) from SoftBank, which was advised by AZB & Partners and Morrison Foerster.
IndusLaw advised Snapdeal again on its largest round of investment to date with 12 other law firm teams.
Read on for the hottest M&As, fundraisings and financings of the fortnight.