Practice Areas
Our Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group is recognised for its efficient handling of high value and complex transactions. The Firm has consistently been engaged on some of the largest merger and acquisition transactions in India, including cross-border deals spanning multiple jurisdictions.
We advise on all stages of a transaction, commencing with structuring and continuing with post completion deliverables. We have advised clients on buy and sell side mandates on domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions including bespoke transactions and bid processes. Our experience covers the full range of mergers & acquisitions, across share purchases, share swaps, joint ventures, dispositions, court, and tribunal approved schemes of arrangement, asset and business acquisitions, acqui-hires, capital reductions, buy-backs, minority squeeze-outs, spin-offs, open offers, and delisting offers.
We advise clients seeking to invest in India as well as Indian clients who are looking at mergers and acquisitions targets outside India. Our clients include listed and unlisted corporates in diverse industries, and our sector experience covers the breadth of the economy and includes banks & financial services, technology, media, telecom, energy, manufacturing, and real estate.
Indicative Experience
- Advising Idea Cellular Limited (now Vodafone Idea Limited) on the stake sale of its standalone tower subsidiary to American Tower Corporation.
- Advising Idea Cellular Limited (now Vodafone Idea Limited) on the merger of the Indian entities of Vodafone Group plc with Idea Cellular Limited
- Advising Mahindra & Mahindra Limited with respect to the demerger of Mahindra's two-wheeler business.
- Advising IDBI Capital with respect to the merger of IDBI Home Finance Limited with IDBI Bank Limited.
- Advising DCB Bank Limited with respect to its acquisition of the India business of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC consisting of loans, cash credits, bank guarantees, and liabilities such as fixed deposits, current, and savings accounts.
- Advising HSBC India on the proposed acquisition of the retail and commercial banking business of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC in India.
- Advising J M Baxi Heavy Private Limited on its acquisition of heavy and over-dimension cargo logistics businesses of Lift & Shift and Allcargo.
- Advising RayBan Sun Optics India Limited, a member of the Luxottica Group S.p.A, with respect to the reduction of its capital through the cancellation of all shares held by public shareholders.
- Advising the promoters of Nidhi Granites Limited, a public listed company with respect to the sale of a controlling stake and associated open offer.
- Advising Ebix, Inc. and Centrum Capital Limited with respect to the open offer to public shareholders of Mumbai-based Reserve Bank of India (RBI) registered authorised dealer, Weizmann Forex Limited, under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011.
- Advising UltraTech Cement Limited with respect to its acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries Limited.
- Advising Girnar Group with respect to:
- Acquisition of a majority stake in PrimeMover Mobility Technologies Private Limited (owner of Revv);
- Acqui-hire of Giggle Galaxy’s business contracts and employees;
- Slump sales for the purpose of restructuring of the group;
- Acquisition of an NBFC; and
- Acquisitions of Unipro, Getmyuni, and Prepbytes (platforms for coaching and university applications).
- Advising Grover Zampa Vineyards Limited with respect to several acquisitions of vineyards and wine brands.
- Advising InsuranceDekho on various acquisitions of insurance broking and marketing businesses, including that of Engaged Insurtech and iAnd.
- Advising Kalpataru Power with respect to its acquisition of Fasttel Engenharia Limited in Brazil.
- Advising Axis Bank Limited on the acquisition by Schroders plc of strategic interest in Axis Asset Management Company Limited.
- Advising BGSF Inc on the India leg of its acquisition of Arryo Consulting.
- Advising CrowdOut Capital on the India leg of the acquisition of the Sourceability Group.
- Advising IMCD India Private Limited with respect to the acquisitions of Aroma Chemical Agencies (India) Private Limited, Alchemie Agencies Private Limited, Monachem Additives Private Limited, and Addpol Chemspecialities Private Limited.
- Advising ANS Commerce and its shareholders on the acquisition by Flipkart Limited.
- Advising BAE Systems with respect to the establishment of a defence joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra Limited.
- Advising Burberry Group plc with respect to its retail joint venture in India.
- Advising Marks & Spencer Group plc with respect to their retail joint venture with Reliance Retail Limited.
- Advising Danone Asia Private Limited with respect to investments by Myen Pte. Limited in Narang Beverages Private Limited.
- Advising ITC Limited with respect to its investment in Mother Sparsh Baby Care Private Limited.Advising
- Advising AXA S.A. (insurance company) with respect to the sale of its shareholding interest in Bharti AXA General Insurance Company Limited.
- Advising UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments Limited with respect to the divestment of its Bangladeshi subsidiaries.
- Advised S.M.I.L.E. Microfinance Limited, an MFI-NBFC, with respect to the slump sale of its micro-finance business to Northern Arc Capital Limited.
- Advised UrbanEdge Hotels Private Limited with respect to the sale of its hotels in Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Chennai, India.
- Advised General Motors Technical Centre India Private Limited with respect to the transfer of certain assets and over 1,300 employees from General Motors's Bengaluru technical centre to Tata Consultancy Services Limited.
Practice Experts
Testimonials
Highly qualified team acting on the full range of corporate matters including M&A, foreign direct investment and joint ventures. Provides general corporate advice to major companies, financial institutions and investors on both the sale and purchase sides. Provides support to private equity and venture capital entities as well as target companies on the entire life-cycle of investment and fund issues. Handles fund formation, management buyouts, minority and controlling-stake acquisitions and a range of follow-on transactions. Notable ability in the financial services, telecommunications, logistics and energy sectors.
They are very thorough, proactive and knowledgeable.
They are a competent team, very capable.
They are customer centric and respond in detail to points raised or opinion sought. They are not ambiguous in their response.
MP Bharucha is lauded by market sources as “one of the leading lawyers in the country” who “has been on the top of his game for a long time. Active on a range of commercial disputes, he maintains a particularly high reputation as a litigator in the Mumbai market.”
Alka Bharucha “boasts a stellar reputation in corporate transactions. She is renowned for her expertise in cross-border M&A as well as her proficiency in providing advice on general corporate issues, in particular within the power, telecommunications and banking sectors.”
Hiroo Advani “is highly sought after for the breadth of his experience in arbitration issues. He often takes on cases in the energy, infrastructure and construction sectors.”
Justin M Bharucha “specialises in foreign direct investments in highly regulated sectors. He is regularly active on complex cross-border transactions, utilising his deep knowledge of inbound and outbound M&A.”
Vandana Pai “commands a strong reputation among market commentators, who praise her excellence in providing assistance with private equity transactions. Her clients are effusive with praise, with one reporting: ‘She foresees business and legal issues and is very proactive in addressing potential concerns.’
We receive top-notch partner time. They are realistic in negotiations, which results in the work being handled faster in a more congenial atmosphere.