AZB & Partners is advising Ester Industries on its more than US$150 million acquisition, along with Loop Industries, of 50 percent shares investing in a manufacturing facility in India to manufacture specialty polymers using patented Loop technology. Both the parties will be contributing operational assets to this JV, such as ancillary marketing and agreements, technology licenses agreements, and human resources and infrastructural facilities. Partners Vinati Kastia and Ankit Tandon are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on May 1, 2024 and is yet to be completed.
AZB & Partners is also advising Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail on the demerger of its Madura Fashion and Lifestyle Business into Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. Partner Ashwath Rau is leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on April 19, 2024 and is yet to be completed.
Moreover, AZB & Partners is advising Metafin Cleantech Finance on the Rs416.8 million (US$5m) acquisition of equity shares of Metafin by Varanium NexGen Trust and Seabright IV Holding Company and its affiliates. Partner Daksh Trivedi is leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on February 7, 2024 and is yet to be completed.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Indegene and individual selling shareholders Manish Gupta, Dr Rajesh Bhaskaran Nair and Anita Nair on Indegene’s IPO of equity shares aggregating to approximately Rs10.82 million (US$130m). The transaction involved an issuance of approximately 40.77 million equity shares with face value of Rs2 (US$0.024) each at Rs452 (US$5.43) per equity share, including a share premium of Rs450 (US$5.40) per equity share. The equity shares commenced trading on May 13, 2024. Indegene is the first life sciences technology company to be listed in India, and the offer was subscribed over 70 times overall. Partners Yash Ashar (capital markets head) and Vijay Parthasarathi (southern region markets co-head), supported by partners Vinay Sirohia, Bharath Reddy and Sindhushri Badarinath, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which closed on May 13, 2024. Sidley Austin acted as international counsel to Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup Global Markets India, JP Morgan India and Nomura Financial Advisory Securities (India), as book-running lead managers to the offer.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has also advised Warburg Pincus on the 100 percent acquisition of Shriram Housing Finance (SHF). Warburg Pincus has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of Shriram Housing Finance for Rs46.3 billion (US$556m). The selling shareholders include Shriram Finance, Valiant, private equity investor, and certain individual shareholders. This marks Warburg’s largest investment in India, targeting SHF, which is one of the country’s largest affordable housing finance companies. SHF is registered with the National Housing Bank and provides retail loans. Partners Shishir Vayttaden and Aditi Singhvi, supported by partners Subhojit Sadhu, Abe Abraham, Anirban Mohapatra, Avaantika Kakkar (competition law head), Dhruv Rajain, Bharath Reddy and Indranath Bishnu, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on May 13, 2024.
Moreover, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Motilal Oswal Financial Services and the lead managers on the issuance of secured, rated, listed redeemable non-convertible debentures with face value of Rs1,000 (US$12.00) each aggregating up to Rs5 billion (US$60m), with an option to retain oversubscription up to Rs5 billion (US$60m) aggregating up to 10 million NCDs for up to Rs10 billion (US$120m). The lead managers are Trust Investment Advisors, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors and Nuvama Wealth Management (formerly known as Edelweiss Securities). Partner Vijay Parthasarathi (southern region markets co-head), supported by partner Lakshmi Prakash, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which closed on May 9, 2024.
JSA has advised Corra Technology and its founders on the India leg of Corra’s 100 percent acquisition by Publicis Group company Sapient, a multinational marketing communications holding corporation. Corra is a global commerce leader and systems integrator helping brands and organizations grow by evaluating, building and optimizing their digital commerce ecosystems. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in New York with additional operating locations established in the US, the UK and India, Corra helps build faster and flexible digital storefronts for growing brands across retail, food and beverage, technology and electronics, health and wellness, and B2B industries. The acquisition of Corra will enhance Publicis Sapient’s current capabilities in commerce solutions, including Adobe Commerce and MACH Alliance composable commerce solutions. Additionally, Corra would provide specialized resources that cover several of Publicis Sapient’s capabilities, such as strategy, product, experience, engineering, and data and AI. Partner Manvinder Singh, supported by partner Anant Mishra, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Khaitan & Co has advised Heinemann Asia Pacific on setting up a consortium with BBM Group company BWC Forwarders to obtain concession for duty-free, to be operated by Heinemann, as well as master concessions for domestic retail and international duty-paid retail, to be operated by BWC from the Noida International Airport. Partners Prasenjit Chakravarti, Nitish Goel and Pranjal Prateek, supported by director Rahul Jain and partners Sudipta Bhattacharjee, Sanjeev Kapoor and Saman Ahsan, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Khaitan & Co has also advised Siemens on the demerger of its energy business, via scheme of arrangement, into a separate legal entity – Siemens Energy India (SEI), which is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens. As per the scheme of arrangement, Siemens shareholders will receive one SEI equity share for every one Siemens equity share. SEI will be subsequently listed, and will mirror the shareholding of Siemens, upon the receipt of requisite approvals. The proposed transaction is, inter alia, subject to receipt of requisite approvals from statutory and regulatory authorities, including the approval from BSE, NSE and the SEBI, the respective shareholders and creditors of Siemens and SEI, and the National Company Law Tribunal. The process of demerger, including receipt of requisite approvals, and subsequent listing of SEI is expected to be completed in 2025. Partners Niren Patel, Mehul Shah and Shreya Mukherjee, supported by executive director Bhavin Vora and partners Arindam Ghosh, Anshul Prakash, Harsh Parikh, Anshuman Sakle and Anisha Chand, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Moriah Law has advised private market exchange ADDX on establishing a Multi-Issuer Debt Issuance Programme (MIDIP) for companies to issue digitised commercial paper and bonds on ADDX FI, ADDX’s dedicated segment for commercial paper and bonds. The inaugural offering under the MIDIP closed on April 2, 2024 for S$10 million (US$7.4m), six percent per annum, five-month unsecured commercial paper issued by LHN, a real estate services company incorporated in Singapore and listed in Singapore and Hong Kong. With orders totalling S$17.161 million (US$12.73m), LHN’s initial offering of S$5 million (US$3.7m) was oversubscribed by 343 percent. The resultant upsized S$10 million (US$7.4m) was the maximum amount authorised by its board. The transaction marked LHN’s successful entry into the debt capital markets. The innovative programme streamlines the issuance process, uniquely allowing different issuers to utilise umbrella terms to access alternative debt funding efficiently and reliably. Issuers may come to market in a matter of days, and issue fairly-priced commercial paper and bonds on ADDX FI, without incurring the time and costs usually associated with establishing an independent medium term note or debt issuance programme. With the MIDIP, issuers may expect savings of up to 90 percent or more in issuance costs. Mishcon de Reya also advised ADDX on English law.
O’Melveny has advised GS Energy, as co-lead investor, on the US$18.5 million Series B funding round of Ndustrial. An AI-powered energy intensity platform for industry, Ndustrial uses uniting production data with energy usage to help companies find energy-saving opportunities. The funding, for which initial close was announced on May 14, 2024, will be used to power growth and accelerate innovation to help industrial companies optimize the crucial metric of energy intensity. Ndustrial will also partner with GS Energy to offer its energy intensity solutions to industrial customers. GS Energy is the energy holding company of GS Group, a conglomerate based in South Korea with operations across the energy, power, retail and construction sectors. Seoul M&A partner Daniel Kim led the firm’s team in the transaction.
