Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas continues its reign as one of the most recognised full service law firms in the country, a top tier choice for its panoply of international and domestic clients. The firm is almost always involved in the most high-profile deals and this year proves its dominance once again by rising into the ‘Outstanding’ tiers for competition, real estate, and technology and telecommunications. The firm houses elite partners and leaders in their fields like Cyril Shroff, L Viswanathan, Reeba Chacko, Avaantika Kakkar and Yash Ashar. The firm also has a unique bench of retired senior bureaucrats from key Indian regulators, such as RBI and SEBI, to provide an extra layer of expertise. Last year, the corporate practice welcomed six new partners from its top-tier peers like Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM), L&L Partners, AZB & Partners and Platinum Partners. These included private equity head Ravindra Badhakavi from Trilegal and head of aerospace and defence, Anuj Prasad from SAM.

Banking and finance

Work highlights

Acted for a consortium of 18 lenders, led by State Bank of India, in relation to the stressed asset resolution of Prayagraj Power Generation Company by way of change in management and control.

Advised Nagpur Mumbai Super Communication Expressway on its $7.77 billion financing for the construction and development of the 700 km Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg Expressway between Mumbai and Nagpur. This is the largest project financing ever undertaken in the country in the road sector on a greenfield basis.

Key clients

Bank of Baroda, Deutsche Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Rabobank, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India

Capital markets

Work highlights

Advised the Embassy Office Parks REIT, its manager, sponsors and the selling unitholders in connection with the $666 million IPO of the client, which would be India’s first registered REIT.

Represented the lead managers, which included Kotak Mahindra Capital and Morgan Stanley India, in the $3.5 billion Vodafone Idea rights issue, which was one of the largest rights issues undertaken in India.

Key clients

Bajaj Finance, Barclays Bank, Blackstone, Greenko Group, Indian Oil Corporation, Power Finance Corporation

Competition/antitrust

Work highlights

Advising Mahindra& Mahindra on receiving approval from the competition regulator after setting up a joint venture with Ford Motor Company. The structure of the joint venture involved Ford India transferring its entire Indian business to the joint venture.

Acting for the Adani Ports and SEZ on its merger notification subsequent to its $1.9 billion acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port. This is the first transaction in the ports sector to be notified to the Competition Commission of India.

Key clients

Adani Group, Apple, Aditya Birla Group, BSH, KraftHeinz, Mahindra & Mahindra Group, Reliance Industries Group, Warburg Pincus

Corporate and M&A

Work highlights

Represented the Bank of Baroda on its merger with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank to become India’s third largest domestic bank. This deal, the first three-way merger of nationalised banks, was valued at $216 billion.

Advised the resolution professional of Essar Steel India during its workout plan, where Essar Steel was acquired in full by ArcelorMittal India and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation for $7 billion.

Represented Piramal Enterprises on the divestment of its Healthcare Insights and Analytics business to Clarivate Analytics for $950 million.

Key clients

Aditya Birla Group, Bata Group, Coca-Cola Group, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Wipro

Dispute resolution

Work highlights

Appearing on behalf of the newly-appointed board of directors of IL&FS and its group companies in an appeal filed before the National Company Law Tribunal and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. This case is a first of its kind and relates to the largest financial corporate fraud in India with $12 billion at stake.

Represented the Committee of Administrators for the Board of Control for Cricket in India in a matter before the Supreme Court relating to the implementation of the reforms in cricket administration in India.

Key clients

Fortis Hospitals, IFC, State Bank of India

Energy

Work highlights

Advised IL&FS in its $685 million divestiture of SPVs of its wind power generative plants to Orix Corporation.

Acted for Adani Gas as the seller of 37.4% of its shares to Total Holdings for $865 million.

Advised Adani Transmission and Adani Electricity Mumbai (AEM) on the acquisition of a 25.1% stake in AEM by Qatari sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority.

Key clients

Adani Green Energy, GVK Group, SSG Capital Management

Infrastructure 

Work highlights

Represented Reliance Industries and its affiliates in relation to a proposed $3.6 billion investment by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and its institutional partners in the units to be issued by Tower Infrastructure Trust.

Advised Power Finance Corporation as the lender in relation to its refinancing of existing loans of Nagpur Waste Water Management in relation to a treatment plant at Bhandewadi, Nagpur in Maharashtra.

Key clients

Adani Power, Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors, L&T Infrastructure Finance

Investment funds

Work highlights

Advised National Investment and Infrastructure Fund – Fund of Funds on its investment in Multiples Private Equity Fund III, a category II alternative investment fund launched by Multiples Alternative Asset Management.

Acting for Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors on the structuring and set up of Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus, an infrastructure-focused alternative investment fund.

Key clients

Fosun International, JSW Investments, SIDBI Venture Capital

Labour and employment 

Work highlights

Appointed by Pfizer Healthcare India to provide advice and assistance in connection with the cessation of manufacturing activities at two of its local plants and the proposed exit from these sites by the end of 2019. These factories employed approximately 1780 employees.

Advised Quess Corp in connection with the appointment of its CEO-designate and executive director, who would subsequently be appointed as the sole chief executive officer.

Key clients

Air India, Hotel Corporation of India, Tailwind Capital Group, Thomson Reuters International Services

Media and entertainment

Work highlights

Evaluating Megashots Internet’s various mobile application games with relation to the online gaming regulatory regime in India.

Pharmaceuticals and life sciences

Work highlights

Acted for US-based Varian, a radiation oncology solutions company, on its acquisition of TPG Growth-owned Cancer Treatment Services International.

Advised Roivant Sciences on issues arising from the absence of clear anonymisation standards under applicable Indian laws.

Representing consumer healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson concerning ongoing issues and litigation relating to the recall of medical devices from the Indian market as part of a worldwide recall.

Key clients

Curology, Healthface, Piramal Enterprises, Uprising Science

Private equity

Work highlights

Advised as local counsel to the Brookfield Group in its $13.2 billion global acquisition of Johnson Control Group’s power solutions business.

Represented private equity firm Stone Point Capital on its $4.2 billion acquisition of Duff & Phelps, along with funds managed by another investor, Further Global, from Permira Funds.

Key clients

Apax, Blackstone, Carlyle, General Atlantic, Softbank, Warburg Pincus

Real estate

Work highlights

Acted for Sobha on its signing of a joint development agreement for lands in Telangana for residential development.

Advised Blackstone Advisors India and Salarpuria Sattva Group on its acquisition of Global Village Tech Park. The team verified the titles of the lands underlying the park, handled all the transaction documents pertaining to real estate matters and advised on exemption orders issued under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.

Key clients

CoWrks India, Omaxe, RMZ Unified Services, Sattva Developers

Regulatory

Work highlights

Providing end-to-end regulatory advice to CG Power and Industrial Solutions on defending its interests under the regulatory proceedings initiated pursuant to an interim order passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Restructuring and insolvency

Work highlights

Acting for the Indian lenders forming part of the committee of creditors in the Jet Airways India insolvency proceedings.

Advised the resolution professional of Essar Steel India in accordance with the provisions of the new insolvency regime. ArcelorMittal India and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal acquired Essar Steel India after the Supreme Court of India approved the resolution plan at the end of 2019.

Key clients

Adani Power, Ernst & Young, IL&FS, Trend Electronics

Tax

Work highlights

Advised Nazara Technologies on strategic and tax advice surrounding online gaming companies for their Indian operations.

Assisted Qatar Investment Authority on tax implications of its 3% stake acquisition in Think & Learn.

Key clients

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, HGGC, Investcorp Private Equity Fund II, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance

Technology and telecommunications 

Work highlights

Represented Reliance Corporate IT Park in negotiating and documenting a 10-year strategic business relationship with Microsoft Corporation and Microsoft Corporation India.

Key clients

Equinix Asia Pacific, Equistone Partners Europe, Maybright Ventures