AZB & Partners has advised Cognizant Technology Solutions on its Rs35.85 billion (US$431m) acquisition of Thirdera Holdings and its Indian subsidiary Thirdera India. Partners Ashwath Rau and Atreya Bhattacharya led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was completed in January 2024.
AZB & Partners is also advising HarbourVest Partners (Asia) on its Rs4 billion (US$48m) acquisition, together with other investors, of stake in ShareChat. Partners Divya Mundra and Shivanand Nayak are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on March 6, 2024 and is yet to be completed.
Moreover, AZB & Partners has advised Dev Milk Foods on the acquisition of stake in Dev Milk Foods by new investor Fireside Ventures, existing investor Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office, Pi Ventures and other existing individual investors. Partners Aarthi Sivanandh and Bhavana Alexander led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was completed on January 5, 2024.
Baker McKenzie has advised Gaw Capital Partners on its partnership with GDS, a leading developer and operator of high-performance data centers in Asia, to build a 40-MW carrier-neutral data center campus in Fuchu, west Tokyo. Through a fund under its management, Gaw Capital has acquired two adjacent data center sites in Fuchu Intelligent Park, a well-established data center cluster less than 30 kilometers from central Tokyo. Spanning a total land size of 10,969 square meters and with IT capacity expected to reach 40 MW, it will be the largest data center facility in Fuchu City, in terms of IT load. GDS has already garnered preliminary customer demands, and the operation is expected to commence by the end of 2026. Hong Kong partner Jason Ng, supported by Tokyo partners Maki Kawamura and Seishi Ikeda, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Christopher & Lee Ong, member firm of Rajah & Tann Asia, has acted for JWD Asia Holding on the acquisition of a 20.44 percent equity interest in Swift Haulage, Malaysia’s largest container haulage company. JWD Asia Holding is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai-listed public company SCGJWD Logistics, one of the largest integrated logistics and supply chain service providers in the ASEAN. M&A partners Yon See Ting and Looi Zhi Min led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Power Finance Corporation on its Rs56.47 billion (US$678.6m) financing of Greenko AP01 IREP’s 1500 MWAC (2100 MWDC) solar photovoltaic plant connected with central evacuation infrastructure in Pinnapuram, Kurnool District in Andhra Pradesh. IDBI Trusteeship Services acted as security trustee. Partners Ajay Sawhney and Bhupendra Verma led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was completed on March 30, 2024.
JSA has advised Barclays Bank, CLSA, Deutsche Bank Singapore Branch, Elara Capital, Emirates NBD Bank, Nuvama Financial Services (UK) and UBS Singapore Branch, as the joint book-runners, on the offering of US$350 million 9.70 percent senior secured social bonds due 2027 by Indiabulls Housing Finance. Partner Madhurima Mukherjee Saha, supported by partners Mathew Thomas and Shivali Singh, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Rajah & Tann Singapore is advising Singapore-listed BRC Asia on its disposal of interest in Pristine Islands Investment, which holds a subsidiary undertaking hotel and resort operations and airport management in the Maldives. BRC Asia Group is the largest reinforcement steel solutions provider in Singapore, with manufacturing and storage facilities spanning over 150,000 square meters. Partners Danny Lim and Cynthia Wu led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Rajah & Tann Singapore has also acted for Konvy on its second Series A funding round, bringing its total Series A round to US$21 million. Launched in 2012, Konvy is a Thai beauty ecommerce platform and is home to 20,000 beauty products from more than 1,000 local and global brands. The funds will be used to enable its regional expansion, starting with the Philippines. Partner Terence Quek led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Saraf and Partners has acted for a consortium of 21 lenders led by Punjab National Bank on the assignment to the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARC) of stressed assets, involving fund-based and non-fund based facilitates aggregating to approximately Rs56.5 billion (US$676.5m), availed by Simplex Infrastructures, a Kolkata-based listed entity established in 1924 and engaged in executing projects in the transport, energy and power, mining, marine and real estate sectors, among others. The joint assignment agreement in relation to the fund-based facilities was executed on March 28, 2024. This assignment comes after the Finance Ministry pushed for a significant transfer by the end of March 2024 of stressed assets amounting to Rs1 trillion (US$12b) from state-owned banks to NARC. Partner Abir Lal Dey led the firm’s team in the transaction.
TT&A has advised IFC on its Rs3.3 billion (US$40m) proposed equity investment in Artemis Medicare Services, via subscription to 33,000 fully paid compulsorily convertible debentures of Artemis Medical Services on a private placement basis. Partners Gautam Saha and Swati Chauhan led the firm’s team in the transaction.
WongPartnership is acting for Mr Wong Weng Sun, the former President, Executive Director and CEO of Seatrium (formerly Sembcorp Marine) and the Managing Director of Jurong Shipyard, on his defense against charges of conspiring to give approximately US$44 million to former Seatrium consultant Guilherme Esteves de Jesus, allegedly for the benefit of persons in Brazil, as inducements or rewards to advance the business interests of Seatrium’s subsidiaries in Brazil. Partners Tan Chee Meng, Senior Counsel and Paul Loy are leading the firm’s team in the matter.
WongPartnership has also acted for the general partner and investment manager of Titan Dining II, a private equity fund investing in Asia, on raising S$100 million (US$74.4m) on April 3, 2024, with the support of anchor investor Jollibee Worldwide, which is part of the Jollibee Group from the Philippines. Partner Low Kah Keong led the firm’s team in the transaction.
