Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’s banking and finance team is led by Leena Chacko. Santosh Janakiram and Shruti Rajan advised Etihad Airways in a transaction combining structured finance and leveraged loan products: a Rs7 billion ($105 million) notes and non-convertible debentures listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.  A new Japanese client was convinced to use the firm because of a strong peer recommendation. Chacko, Pranav Sharma, Sandeep Dave (real estate), and Nisha Kaur Uberoi (competition) advised a consortium of lenders on more than $550 million in construction finance facilities.

Yash Ashar is the new national practice head for capital markets at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. The team’s clients include Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, HealthCare Global Enterprises and IDFC Securities. The team acted as domestic legal counsel to the global coordinators and book running lead managers of HDFC’s $1.6 billion QIP. Niloufer Lam advised Bank of India on its $750 million dollar-denominated 3.125% notes due in 2020. Led by Arjun Lall, S R Patnaik (tax) and Nisha Kaur Uberoi (competition), the group also advised Coffee Day International on its Rs11.5 billion IPO in October 2015.

In addition to being lead counsel for the cement manufacturers in the Cement Cartel matter, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’s competition and antitrust group, led by Nisha Kaur Uberoi, represented Ola, an Indian taxi aggregator, before the CCI. Mega Cabs alleged abuse of dominance in Delhi’s National Capital Region market for radio taxi services. The CCI found no case for either anti-competitive practices or abuse of dominance. A client says that the partners “provide their advice promptly. They are hard-working and very helpful.”

Sandeep Dave and Namrata Kolar lead the construction and real estate practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. They represent industry (Godrej Home Constructions and Hindustan Construction) and financial (Blackstone Advisors and ICICI Bank) clients. Led by Dave, the team advised Bank of America on its acquisition of 134,000 square feet of property in One BKC in Mumbai.

The M&A and private equity practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, the firm’s largest, advised on Yokohama Rubber’s complex, cross-border acquisition of KKR-owned Dutch tyre manufacturer Alliance Tire Group. More than 25 partners from the competition, employment, banking and finance, disputes, real estate, and tax practices worked as part of a team led by Cyril Shroff on this $1.2 billion transaction. The deal is one of the largest private equity exits from an India-focused investment since 2015. A client commends the firm’s “expertise across verticals” and “domain knowledge of transacting partners”.

The dispute resolution and litigation group of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas designs and executes responses and strategies for clients, such as BSES Rajdhani Power and Gujarat State Petroleum, in complex disputes. Vijayendra Singh, who has since joined AZB & Partners, and Kirat Nagra advised BSES Discoms, the joint venture to distribute electricity between Reliance Infrastructure and the Delhi government over a call by the government for an audit of BSES Discoms by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). In October 2015, the Delhi High Court quashed the government’s directive calling for an audit by CAG, among other rulings, in the Rs80 billion case. “If we are in a hurry,” says a client, “they will provide their advice promptly. They are hard-working and very helpful.”

Part of the projects group, headed by Santosh Janakiram, at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, the energy and natural resources practice has considerable experience representing industrial, such as SunEdison, and finance sector clients. L Viswanathan and Subhalakshmi Naskar advised Indian diversified company Piramal Enterprises and Dutch APG Asset Management on Essel Infraprojects’ issuance of listed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures for up to Rs9 billion. Essel Green Energy, a subsidiary of Essel, is using the investment to expand its solar platform beyond its 160 megawatts (MW) in four Indian states.

Shagoofa Khan heads Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’s investment funds practice, which mainly advises general partners and fund managers in India or looking to invest in the local market. Coverage includes fund product placements, co-investment arrangements, carried interest and investor disputes. Cyril Shroff and Pallabi Ghosal advised Kotak Mahindra Group on its $525 million investment management arrangement with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The platform focuses on special situations and distressed credit opportunities in India.

Rahul Goel, hired from Dhir & Dhir, leads the practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. The firm’s clients include Indian management service provider Infosys and Visa. A client praises the firm for its “good research capability, speed of response, and quality of drafting”. Jaya Singhania advised Multi Screen Media, a subsidiary of Sony, on its joint venture with BBC Worldwide to deliver BBC Earth, a new premium channel, to Indian audiences.

The private equity team at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, led by managing partner Cyril Shroff, works for foreign and domestic clients including private equity funds and venture capitalists on public and private investments. A client praises the firm’s “professional execution and time management”. Shroff and Dhruv Singhal advised Lathe Investment, a subsidiary of Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, on its more-than Rs10.2 billion investment in ANI Technologies, known for Ola, an online platform for taxi services.

Headed by Santosh Janakiram, the projects and infrastructure practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advises on major Indian infrastructure projects in the airport, road and railways sectors. The team focuses on project finance rather than engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mandates, though it can do both. Instructed by Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Alice George advised on a Rs40.9 billion project to increase the capacity of Vizhinjam International Seaport. The project is one of the first public-private partnerships (PPPs) to have received viability gap funding from the federal government and the government of Kerala.