AZB & Partners has advised Mumbai City FC and its founder shareholders on the acquisition of 65 percent majority stake by City Football Group in Mumbai City FC. Partners Ashwath Rau, Kashish Bhatia and John Adwet Raghav led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was completed on March 31, 2023.
AZB & Partners is also advising Aegon India Holding on the acquisition of 56 percent equity stake by Bandhan Financial Holdings of Aegon Life Insurance from Aegon India Holding. Partners Darshika Kothari, Nandish Vyas and Kritika Agarwal, supported by partner Aditya Singh Chandel, are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on July 20, 2023 and is yet to be completed.
Moreover, AZB & Partners is advising Internet Fund III, a fund managed by Tiger Global Management, as one of the sellers, on the Rs900 million (US$11m) acquisition of 100 percent shareholding of Nestaway Technologies by Aurum PropTech. Partners Ashwath Rau, Srinath Dasari, Nanditha Gopal and Aditya Singh Chandel are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on June 28, 2023 and is yet to be completed.
Further, AZB & Partners is advising Krosaki Harima Corporation on the approximately Rs1.1 billion acquisition of stake by Bajoria Financial Services in IFGL Refractories from Krosaki Harima. Partners Rajendra Barot and Prerak Ved are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on July 11, 2023 and is yet to be completed.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has acted as Indian regulatory change of control counsel for UBS Group on the indirect acquisition of Credit Suisse entities in India, pursuant to the merger of Credit Suisse Group into UBS Group. As a part of the merger transaction, shares equivalent to CHF3 billion (US$3.5b) were issued. The transaction involved UBS and Credit Suisse entities in India obtaining prior approval from the RBI, SEBI, stock exchanges and other regulatory agencies for change in control, pursuant to the global merger. The other parties in the transaction included Credit Suisse Mumbai Branch, Credit Suisse Finance (India) and Credit Suisse Securities (India). Managing partner Cyril Shroff and partners Nivedita Rao, Ramgovind Kuruppath, Rutu Gandhi and Gazal Rawal led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on March 19, 2023 and closed on June 12, 2023. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted as global transaction advisor for UBS Group.
JSA has advised Pismo Holdings on the India leg of its acquisition by Visa. Pismo Holdings provides a cloud-based payment processing platform to banks and financial institutions, and has operations in Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe. The all-cash acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and certain other conditions, and is expected to close by the end of the year. Partner Rupinder Malik, supported by partner Gaurav Wahie, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was valued at US$1 billion, and is one of the biggest deals in the fintech sector this year. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati were Pismo’s international counsel on the transaction.
Khaitan & Co has advised Maxivision Eye Hospitals and its controlling shareholders on an approximately US$3 million investment of up to Rs13 billion (US$158.5m) by Quadria Capital Investment Advisors in the company. Partner Vivek Sriram led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Khaitan & Co has also advised E-Con Systems India and its promoters on an approximately US$3 million investment, via primary issuance of securities and secondary stake sale, by GR 2022 Holdings. Partners Vivek Sriram and Prithwijit Gangopadhyay, supported by partners Anshul Prakash and Shailendra Bhandare, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Udaipur Cement Works on the rights issue of approximately 249 million equity shares. The deal was valued at Rs4.5 billion (US$55m), and the rights equity shares were listed in India on July 17, 2023. Udaipur Cement Works is a part of the JK Organisation, a business conglomerate with presence in the fields of cement, tyre, paper, agriculture genetics, dairy products and education, among others. Capital markets national practice head partner Prashant Gupta and partner Sayantan Dutta led the firm’s team in the transaction, while Khaitan & Co (Delhi) advised JM Financial, as the lead manager.
Skadden has advised Nomura International, Daiwa Capital Markets Europe and Morgan Stanley & Co International, as the international managers, on the follow-on offering of common stock by Socionext in Tokyo. The offering consisted of approximately 12.6 million shares offered at ¥14,668 (US$104.38) per share for a total offer value of approximately ¥185.18 billion (US$1.3 billion). Socionext designs, develops and delivers custom System-on-Chip products, with clients in the consumer, automotive and industrial sectors. The offering closed on July 13, 2023. Tokyo partner Kenji Taneda led the firm’s team in the transaction. The firm previously advised the international joint lead managers in Socionext’s US$459 million IPO in Tokyo in October 2022.
WongPartnership is acting for ESR Group, the sponsor of Sabana Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit), on the requisition by activist investor Quarz Capital to convene an extraordinary general meeting for the internalisation of the management of Sabana Reit. Partners Tan Chee Meng, Senior Counsel, Joy Tan, Andrew Ang, Melanie Ho, Audrey Chng, Ong Pei Chin, Tian Sion Yoong, Chang Man Phing and Nicolette Lye are leading the firm’s team in the matter.
WongPartnership has also acted as lead counsel to the syndicate of offshore lenders on the refinancing of loan facilities granted to the EC World REIT Group. Partners Susan Wong, Felix Lee and Clarence Kang led the firm’s team in the transaction.
