Private Equity & Venture Capital
Our dedicated 40 plus lawyers private equity team with their in-depth local knowledge and appreciation of cross-border legal requirements, advises venture capital firms, hedge funds, private equity funds, mezzanine funds, and infrastructure funds on structuring investment vehicles.
The Firm has worked on many of the complex and trend-setting transactions in various industries including agriculture, broadcasting and news media, e-commerce, education, energy – solar, wind, conventional and nuclear, financial services, food and beverages, healthcare, infrastructure, insurance, real estate, retail and sports.
We use a versatile approach for this practice and draw on the strength of our other practices. This approach has led us to complete the most challenging transactions in an agile and responsive manner, helping our clients through the full life cycle of investments — from fund formation to exit and everything in between.
The team effortlessly advises on multidisciplinary issues like onshore & offshore structuring, share subscriptions, financing, exit strategies, regulatory issues and due diligence.
Our Partners:
New Delhi
Akshit Kapoor
New Delhi
Overview
Akshit Kapoor has extensive experience in areas of real estate laws, mergers & acquisitions, private client and family office practice, banking and finance, capital markets, PE investments, insolvency and bankruptcy and corporate restructuring.
Akshit has represented and advised both Indian and International clients on general corporate matters, M&A, joint ventures and commercial contracts across various business sectors like health care, automobile, telecom, consumer goods sector etc.
He has closely collaborated with a wide range of international and domestic corporations, advising them on their business operations in both India and abroad. As being part of the Firm’s real estate practice, he has advised some of the largest real estate companies in India and has been involved in advising numerous international clients for their projects in India.
Akshit has represented and advised HNIs and HNFs, business owners, family offices, corporate fiduciaries as well as charitable and not for profit entities on restructuring, creation of trusts and wills, migration of residency and change in citizenship.
Akshit has advised on private placements and public offerings by issuers across a wide range of industries. He also regularly advises companies for their Initial Public Offerings (IPO) as well as on Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP).
Akshit possesses a profound grasp of the intricate commercial and legal intricacies surrounding land ownership, land acquisition, land use and conversion, regulatory and approval matters, foreign investments, and more.
As part of the Firm’s insolvency and bankruptcy practice, Akshit has gone on to advise clients on exit strategies, refinancing, debt restructuring, distressed sale etc. Akshit specializes in representing distressed funds, bidders’/resolution applicants, lenders / Committee of Creditors, and insolvency professionals in the context of restructurings, insolvency resolution processes, and liquidations governed by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
Bengaluru
Arindam Basu
Bengaluru
Arindam has more than 18 years of experience in advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital financing, overseas investments, joint ventures and strategic collaborations. His work in this area predominantly consists of advising clients on both buy and sell sides regarding high value mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, private equity and venture capital financings, debt financings, outbound and inbound cross border investments, joint ventures and strategic collaborations. A seasoned negotiator with strong legal and analytical skills, he has successfully led and managed multiple large-scale transactions over the course of his career. His experience encompasses corporate transactions across sectors as diverse as healthcare, education, technology, media and entertainment, gaming, financial services, defence, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, FMCG and others. Arindam has advised clients ranging from early stage start-up enterprises to global business powerhouses, private equity and venture capital funds, angel investor networks and high net-worth individuals on structuring of businesses and corporate re-organizations, capital financing, growth through mergers and acquisitions, cross border investments (both inbound and outbound), exchange control regulations and general corporate matters.
Arindam is a 2006 graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.
Experience Statement
- Advised a major Indian manufacturer of agricultural machinery in their joint venture with a Japanese conglomerate, and also their strategic acquisition of another Indian company operating in an ancillary space, with a transaction value of approximately INR 150 Crore.
- Advised a NASDAQ listed entity technology services company in its acquisitions of multiple Indian target companies, including majority stake in a BSE listed company, for a consideration of approximately USD 170 Million.
- Advised and represented the founders on their exit from one of the largest joint venture clinical diagnostics chains in India, by acquisition of their shareholding by the other joint venture partner, for a purchase consideration of approximately INR 350 Crore.
- Advised one of the largest global education-technology companies headquartered in India, over successive institutional financing rounds commencing from Series A till Series F investments, from multiple institutional investors, amounting to more than USD 500 Million.
- Advised and represented the founders of one of the oldest and largest Indian restaurant chains, in its receipt of private equity investment amounting to INR 200 crores, and thereafter, also in the eventual exit of the founders from the business, with such exit being effected at a purchase consideration of approximately INR 400 Crore.
Mumbai
Deepak THM
Mumbai
Overview
Deepak is a Partner in the corporate team of the Firm’s Mumbai office with over 2 decades of experience. He has extensively advised domestic and international clients on joint ventures, M&A and private equity transactions. He also advises his clients on corporate structuring and matters of general corporate and regulatory nature.
Experience Statement
- Advised one of India’s largest corporate conglomerate in its joint venture to develop a resort in Andaman & Nicobar.
- Advising a European global engineering and technology company in setting up a joint venture in India with one of India’s largest conglomerates to set up hydrolyser projects.
- Advised Reliance Capital’s on its stake sale to Nippon Life in Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund.
- ‘M&A Deal of the Year 2020 - Midsize’ by ALB India Law Awards.
- 'Deal of the Year 2020' by India Business Law Journal.
- Advised a consortium of domestic and foreign private equity funds in the acquisition of housing finance business of one of the largest Indian private banks.
- Advised TR Capital’s on its investment in Sapphire Foods, the franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut.
New Delhi
Maureen Z. Ralte
New Delhi
Overview
Maureen Z. Ralte is a Partner in the M&A and Corporate Practice of the Firm. She has over 15 years’ experience in mergers & acquisitions, private equity, real estate and general corporate advisory. She has worked on a wide variety of corporate transactions across sectors including real estate, hospitality, automobile, renewable energy, banking & finance, tourism, entertainment, marketing, information technology, etc.
She has represented domestic and multinational companies in the negotiation, structuring, preparation and review of transaction documents, in the areas of general commercial advice, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, corporate restructuring, insolvency, joint ventures/ collaborations, fund raising and commercial contracts. She has advised clients on issues relating to general corporate compliances, corporate governance issues, real estate and exchange control laws.
Maureen has worked closely with the in-house departments of leading corporate houses and routinely advises them on complex legal issues.
New Delhi
Navin Syiem
New Delhi
Overview
Navin has over 20 years of experience advising clients on large multi-currency and multi- sourced financings, domestic and cross border acquisitions (including club deals and deals run through an auction process), cross border investments and has extensive multi-jurisdictional experience in M&A, finance and security package structuring and advising on, drafting and negotiating transaction documentation. He has specific experience in acting on transactions in emerging markets across a range of sectors including infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, banking and finance, technology and financial services. He also has experience in clean energy financings.
With his significant corporate experience, Navin regularly advises clients on public and private M&A transactions, corporate restructurings, joint ventures and private equity transactions. With a strong M&A focus, he regularly advises clients on structuring M&A transactions, leading the legal due diligence of the target companies and advising on issues arising out of such diligence and drafting and negotiating the transaction documents. Navin also has experience advising on M&A transactions through competitive bidding.
He regularly acts for foreign and domestic clients, including Oaktree Capital, Molson Coors, Sequoia Capital, ANI Technologies (OLA), Mountainia Developers (OYO), InfraCo Asia, Albright Capital, Anheuser Busch InBev, ReNew Power, Avery Dennison, Canadian Solar, Metro Cash & Carry, Sterlite Power, Jacobs Inc.
Mumbai
Nishant Singh
Mumbai
Overview
Nishant is a Partner at Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India and specializes in the area of Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity & Venture Capital and Banking & Finance.
Nishant is admitted to practice law in India and the State of New York (USA). In the last 19 years, Nishant has worked on a wide array of equity and debt financing transactions across multiple sectors and countries. In the M&A space, he has worked on listed as well as unlisted company transactions including, public takeover, PIPE, going private, JV and minority or majority equity investments. As regards the debt investment, he advises on structured debt funding and re-structuring transactions.
Nishant also advises corporate houses and HNI’s in relation to investigations by government agencies like Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, Economic Offence Wing for charges of bribery, money laundering, corporate fraud and various other offences and assists clients in formation of internal corporate policies and structures against anti-bribery, anti-corruption, anti-corporate fraud, whistleblowing, anti-sexual harassment, data privacy and cyber security.
His past international experience of working with the top tier law firms in San Francisco, New York and London offers his clients a distinctive approach and expertise on cross-border deals.
Experience Statement
- Advised American International Group Inc. in its sale of American Life Insurance Corporation to MetLife Inc. for USD 15.5 Billion.
- Advised Future Group, in relation to USD 5 Billion debt re-structuring of Future Retail Limited, Future Enterprises Limited, Future Lifestyle Fashions Limited, Future Consumer Limited, Future Supply Chain Solutions Limited, and other unlisted companies for all outstanding debt owed to 28 Indian banks-consortium under the resolution framework for COVID-19-related stress announced by the Reserve Bank of India.
- Advised Novo Holdings A/S to acquire majority stake in Manipal Health Enterprises for USD 3.6 Billion alongside investors Temasek, The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and TPG Asia.
- The transaction is a part of the largest private equity deal in the Indian healthcare sector.
- Represented Pocket Aces Pictures Private Limited, through its board of directors (‘Pocket Aces’), and its founders, Aditi Shrivastava, Ashwin Suresh and Anirudh Pandita, in relation to its acquisition by Saregama India Limited (‘Saregama’), a subsidiary of RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) Group. Saregama will initially acquire 51.8% shares in Pocket Aces, with the subsequent acquisition of another ~41% stake in next 15 months at pre-agreed multiples. The transaction is an all-cash deal.
- The deal was listed as one of the top 10 mergers and acquisitions deals.
- Advised Orange S.A., a listed company, in relation to its acquisition of Bharti Airtel Limited’s (a listed company) offshore subsidiaries in two African countries (Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone) for approx. USD 1 Billion.
- Advised Agritrade Resources Ltd., a listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in relation to acquisition of SKS Power Generation (Chhattisgarh) Limited through a One Time Settlement of USD 350 Million approx.for all outstanding debt to State Bank of India, L&T Infrastructure Finance Company Limited and PTC (India) Financial Services Limited.
- Advised Engie Solar SAS and Electro Solaire Private Limited, in a project financing for an amount of USD 100 Million approx.availed from the Asian Development Bank and Société Générale for setting up a 2x 100MW AC grid-connected solar PV project in Raghanesda Solar Park, Gujarat.
- Advised IndoStar Capital Finance, a listed company, in relation to Brookfield Asset Management’s acquisition of 40% stake for INR 1225 Crore through a mix of primary and secondary shares from Everstone Capital, infusion of capital in IndoStar Capital Finance, and public shareholders under the Takeover Code.
- Advised Cipla Limited, in relation to its acquisition of brand rights to market derma and cosmeceutical products manufactured by Percos India.
- Advised Reliance Jio, in relation to its acquisition of properties related to telecom towers from Reliance Communications.
- Advised NewQuest Capital Partners, in relation to its acquisition of a minority stake in Kids Clinic India Private Limited (operating as Cloudnine chain of hospitals), through a combination of a primary investment and acquisition of secondary stake from existing investors and other shareholders in Cloudnine.
- Advised Pharmarack Technologies, in relation to its 92% acquisition by ABCD Technologies LLP, a digital health firm backed by Sun Pharma, Lupin, Cadilla Healthcare and Torrent.
New Delhi
Shinoj Koshy
New Delhi
Overview
Shinoj is a dual-qualified attorney, qualified in India and England & Wales. He has extensive experience in key financial centers of London, New York, Dubai, Mumbai and New Delhi, working on domestic and cross-border M&A transactions and private equity investments. He has acted on both sell and buy-side mandates. Over the last 18 years of his practice, he has advised on transactions with a cumulative deal value of over USD 40 billion.
His practice focuses on corporate transactions, particularly M&A; joint ventures, corporate finance (equity and debt investments); commercial dispute resolution (shareholder disputes, post-closing pricing disputes in M&A); employment matters, governance issues and internal investigations in matters related to anti-bribery & anti-corruption and FCPA & UKBA compliance).
Shinoj’s diverse and global experience gained at Linklaters and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has helped him understand clients’ business and commercial objectives, to advise and implement legal strategies to achieve their objectives most optimally.
Shinoj is closely associated with industry associations like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Invest India; advising them on ways to promote FDI in key sectors like Infrastructure, Manufacturing & Retail and E-commerce. Additionally, he is also a member of the India-Jersey Advisory Group advising the States of Jersey government on its interactions with the Government of India.
Shinoj regularly lectures at law universities like the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore and National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata. His analytical writing and comments are published in both national and international peer-reviewed journals and industry publications like IFLR, IBLJ, IBA Asia Pacific Journal, The Mint and The Hindu Business Line.
Experience Statement
- Advised Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited, China’s largest cement manufacturer on its bid to acquire Lafarge’s cement manufacturing business in North India.
- Advised British Telecom on its USD 90 million acquisition of an Indian telecom company and start its outsourcing operations in India.
- Advised DoIT Smart Hospitality (India) Private Limited on its USD 15.23 million acquisition of the Ambience Hospitality Management Private Limited and its subsidiary which runs The Palms Town and Country Club.
- Advised Everstone on its USD 52 million acquisition of Aon Hewitt’s payroll processing business through a combination of share and asset purchases in India, China, Singapore and Philippines.
- Advised Multiples Private Equity on its USD 35 million investment in Delhivery.
Mumbai
Sudipta Routh
Mumbai
Overview
Sudipta’s career spans over 25 years, in diverse settings. He started as an in-house, transitioned to private practice, acquired foreign qualifications, moved to international English Law practice, founded his own firm, and then merged his practice with a top-tier firm.
Sudipta’s practice is presently focused on Cross-border M&A, Banking & Finance, Corporate Advisory, Fund Formation, and Insolvency & Restructuring.
Over the last 25 years, Sudipta has cherished a lead role in high value “pink paper” transactions and business development. In recent years, it has been more the deals that he has managed to stop, restructure/ re-strategize that have added greater value to clientele. His practice has evolved from transactional, to strategic counselling, consensus building and operating as a close confidante - to business leaders, boards, promoters, and entrepreneurs.
He is quoted often and published regularly and speaks frequently in national and international forums and on television talk shows.
Hyderabad
Suprio Dasgupta
Hyderabad
Suprio’s career spans over 30 years, in diverse settings. He started his career with United Nations before moving to academics, then in-house and finally transitioned to private practice from general counsel practice of more than 2 decades.
Suprio’s focus areas of practice are mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, general corporate and commercial matters, intellectual property, technology, media & telecommunication, labour & employment, ESG, real estate, anti-corruption & compliance, data privacy and litigations/dispute resolution for clients across the sectors such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, healthcare, technology, media, entertainment, telecommunication, energy and real estate, etc.
Experience Statement
- Advised Board of the listed companies of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Schneider Electric India, Honeywell JVs in India.
- Advised Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in M&A and business deals with Wockhardt, UCB, Astra Zeneca, etc and Securities Class Action, Anti-trust litigation and Pricing litigations in the USA and India.
- Advised Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals in pharma statutory compliances, FCPA compliances and data privacy compliances.
- Advised Glenmark Pharmaceuticals in prosecution matters with the Dept. of Justice, USA and IP class actions in USA.
- Advised Schneider Electric in power and renewable energy projects both in utility and solar sectors.
- Advised Honeywell in SEZ related matters, real estate deals, global integration in various acquisitions and technology transfer to NAL and other aerospace commercial deals.
- Advised GE and Honeywell in cross border IP transactions, technology transfer, patent protection, licensing, anti-counterfeit strategy & actions and statutory compliances.
- Advised the Government of India in legislative drafting, profit sharing model for CSIR laboratories, IITs and IISc.
New Delhi
Varun Vaish
New Delhi
Overview
Varun comes with over a decade of experience in M&A, private equity and general corporate advisory. Varun’s involvement in various transactions help both the investors as well as the target company navigate a very uncertain regulatory environment and close large investment rounds. He has played instrumental role in bringing clarity on certain grey areas of the regulatory framework, for instance, surrounding restructuring of such ECB Loans. His insights and legal advisory on transactions in relation to private acquisitions of assets during ongoing insolvency of the asset owner’s group companies has been incredible. Varun’s approach towards solving client’s problem is one of his strongest forte. He brings solution-oriented mind set to the table, helping client navigate the transactions in the most reasonable and timely manner and simultaneously creating space for his team to learn, adapt and grow into an even better professional
Experience Statement
- Advised IFFCO and reviewed financing documentations and corresponding amendments thereto, arising out of the restructuring of the credit facilities amounting to USD 850 Million availed of by IFFCO’s foreign subsidiary i.e. Jordan India Fertilizer Company.
- Advised a leading real estate company on the resolution and eventual acquisition of a landowning company owning 110 Acres of land valued at over USD 140.5 Million under the pre-packaged insolvency regime.
- Advised M3M India Private Limited (M3M) on INR 900 Crore debt infusion by Oaktree Capital through subscription to NCDs.
- Advised Apollo Hospitals in its INR 450 Crore hospital asset acquisition in Gurugram, Haryana.
- Advised by Kunshan Q Tech Microelectronics (India) Private (QTech) Limited on USD 20 Million external commercial borrowings (ECB).
Bengaluru
Vasudev Dibbur
Bengaluru
Overview
Vasudev has 18 years of experience with specialization in M&A, joint ventures, private equity and venture capital advisory. Vasudev also routinely advises on corporate restructuring, commercial contracts, general corporate and employment law advisory matters.
Vasudev’s experience spreads across sectors, including pharma, retail, real estate, media, telecommunications, IT/ITES, micro finance, liquor, heavy engineering, mining & minerals and defence. He has in-depth knowledge and understanding of various aspects relating to the legal and regulatory jurisprudence and practice in these areas. He also has extensive knowledge of foreign investment & exchange control laws generally and also the gamut of laws routinely associated with the manufacturing and services sector in general.
Vasudev has acted for leading international and India corporate houses and organizations, including Abbott Laboratories, bioMerieux, ArcelorMittal, Wal-Mart, Diageo, Visteon Corporation, Emerson Electric Co., Chemtura Corporation, Tangoe Inc., Middleby Corporation, Adtran Inc., Rambus Inc., Nokia, Christian Louboutin, Photonis Technologies, Hexcel Corporation, Rambus, NexGen Healthcare, Time Inc., Citi Venture Capital International, Wolfensohn Capital Partners, Sequoia, Samsara Capital, Mantri Developers, UTI Venture Funds, Leggett and Platt, Flextronics, Temasek, CapitaLand, Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO), Times Group, DLF Limited and DLF Brands Limited, Continental Hospitals, Medi Assist SM Electronics and MRN Group.
Experience Statement
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Acted for Reliance Capital on a venture capital investment in Naffa Innovations Private Limited engaged in digital payment sector.
Joint Ventures
- Advised Christian Louboutin S.A. on its 51:49 joint venture with an Indian joint venture partner in the single brand retail space.
Private Equity
- Advised WCP Holdings III (a Wolfensohn Capital Partners fund) and Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO) in connection with their investment in Ujjivan Microfinance Services Private Limited, a leader in the Indian microfinance space.
General Corporate Advisory
- Advised Clifford Chance on a multi-jurisdictional corporate governance survey undertaken for CME Group.
- Advised Wal-Mart in connection with a proposal to set up cash and carry wholesales stores in Southern Indian states.
New Delhi
Vipin Sharma
New Delhi
Overview
Vipin's focus areas of practice are mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity foreign investment, general corporate and commercial matters. In his legal experience of a decade, Vipin has structured, negotiated and drafted a wide range of private equity transactions and M&A transactions for foreign and domestic clients across the sectors such as energy and infrastructure, renewables, e-commerce, real estate, etc.
Vipin advises foreign investors and multinational corporations on a wide array of legal issues relating to acquisitions, joint venture agreements, private equity investments, foreign direct investment policy, company laws, etc.