OVERVIEW

Deepak is a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions (“M&A”) and corporate team of the firm’s Mumbai office. 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.

Deepak has been recognized as a ‘Notable Practitioner’ by IFLR 1000 Asia-Pacific, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

SELECT REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS/MATTERS

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Reliance Capital’s stake sale to Nippon Life in Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund.

1. This deal has been awarded ‘M&A Deal of the Year, 2020 - Midsize’ by the ALB India Law Awards.
2. This deal has also been recognised as one of the winning ‘Deals of the Year’ for the year 2020 by India Business Law Journal."

• Reliance Industries’ acquisition of the apparel brand/business ‘John Players’ from ITC.
• Data Glove IT Solutions’ sale of its entire stake to Persistent Systems, as part of its global acquisition deal.
• Apollo’s acquisition of speciality care hospitals from Nova Group.
• Apollo’s acquisition of Medics - a hospital based in Uttar Pradesh.

Other significant M&A transactions

• 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.

Private Equity

• TR Capital’s investment in Sapphire Foods, the franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut.
• TR Capital’s acquisition of stake in Supermart Grocery Supplies (bigbasket).

Other significant PE transactions

• Advising a leading food and beverage company in its fund raise from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
• Advising a leading private equity fund in its sale of stake in an Indian company engaged in the business of specialised frozen foods.

Joint Ventures

• Tata’s joint venture with Starbucks for operating cafes.
• Everstone’s joint venture with Burger King for operating restaurants.

OVERVIEW

Jay is a Partner in the Banking & Finance, Insolvency & Corporate Restructurings and Corporate/M&A/PE teams at Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India Mumbai office.

Previously, Jay has been a Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (Mumbai) (SAM). Before SAM, he was a founder-partner of Verus and was Co-head of the firm’s corporate advisory & transactions practice. Prior to founding Verus, Jay worked at Bharucha & Partners having joined as part of the founding team from (the erstwhile) Amarchand Mangaldas (Mumbai) where he started his career.

Over the years, Jay has gained considerable experience in Banking & Finance, Restructurings & Insolvency and Corporate/M&A/Joint Ventures/Private Equity and Capital Markets practices.

Jay has been recognized in the ‘A-List – India’s Top Lawyer 2022’ by India Business Law Journal.

SELECT REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS/MATTERS

1. Banking & Finance
   • Currently advising SWAMIH Fund on several matters ranging from standardisation of documents to enforcement actions.
   • Advised GMM Pfaudler Ltd. on acquisition finance facilities for its acquisitions in India and abroad.
2. Insolvency & Corporate Restructurings / Debt Resolution
   • Advised UVARCL in its resolution of debts of Reliance Communications Ltd. and Reliance Telecom Ltd. as part of their respective corporate insolvency resolution processes. Debt resolved is INR 82,000 crores and INR 42,000 crores approx., respectively. This deal is subject to NCLT and other approvals.
   • Advising Reliance Capital Ltd. and a few of its operating subsidiaries on certain debt and business restructuring mandates.
3. Mergers & Acquisitions
   • Advised Dr. Lal Path Labs Ltd. on its acquisition of Suburban Diagnostics (India) Pvt. Ltd. for INR 12,000 million (approx.).
   • Advised Bayer BioScience Private Limited and Bayer CropScience Ltd. in sale of their cotton seed (sold under the Surpass® brand) & pearl millet, sorghum and mustard seed (sold under the ProAgro® brand) businesses and related assets in India to Crystal Crop Protection Limited.
4. Private Equity & Venture Capital
   • Advised Neev Fund II on its follow-on investment in Blue Planet Environmental Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. – a leading end to end solutions company for waste management and up-cycling.
   • Advised Growthpond Technology Pvt. Ltd. (operating its business under Dukaan) and its founders on its pre-seed funding from Matrix Partners & Lighthouse Funds. Also advised the client on its much publicized and high-stake dispute with Khatabook and its founder.
5. Joint Ventures
   • Presently advising a leading laser and marking systems manufacturer in its proposed Indian joint venture with a leading Indian conglomerate.
   • Advised a Government company on the assignment of its unsecured debt instruments to another Government company in lieu of issuance of fresh equity shares by way of a scheme of arrangement.
6. General Corporate
   • Presently advising a German engineering company in the winding down and ultimate closure of the operations of its Indian wholly owned subsidiary.
   • Advised Luxottica group on the restructuring of its Indian operations involving inter alia reduction of capital of RayBan Sun Optics India Limited.
7. Private Client Practice
   • Advised several HNW individuals and promoters of large Indian corporates on setting up of family trusts, family arrangements, wills and succession & estate planning matters.
8. Capital Markets
   • Advised Union Bank on its proposed QIP of INR 20,000 million in 2017.
   • Advised on several SME IPOs (Ambition Mica Ltd. Shree Krishna Constructions Ltd., Mangalam Seeds Ltd., MD Inducto Ltd. etc.)
9. Projects & Infrastructure
   • Advised Rolls-Royce Power Systems on its proposed bid as a Contractor in connection with an Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded 70MW gas-based replacement power project at Sivasagar district, Assam.
   • Advised UltraTech Cement Ltd. on an O&M agreement for its Wall Care Putty plant at Katni, Madhya Pradesh.

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.

Navin is a dual qualified lawyer and is enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi and as a Solicitor, England & Wales. He has previously worked in the Dubai office of Ashurst LLP, where he was a member of the India practice and has also worked in-house as the India legal counsel for GE Capital.

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.
Navin is recognized as ‘Recommended’ Lawyer by the Legal 500 and as ‘India Super 50 Lawyers’ by Asian Legal Business.

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 buyside 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. He has advised several corporates, private equity and SHINOJ KOSHY Partner skoshy@demosite.finlabsindia.org New Delhi sovereign wealth funds on their investment strategies for emerging markets like India, and countries in South Asia Middle-East & North Africa.

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.

SELECT REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS/MATTERS

• Anhui Conch: Advised Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited, China’s largest cement manufacturer on its bid to acquire Lafarge’s cement manufacturing business in North India.
• British Telecom: Advised on its USD 90 million acquisition of an Indian telecom company and start its outsourcing operations in India.
• DoIT Smart Hospitality (India) Private Limited: Advised 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.
• Everstone: Advised 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.
• Multiples Private Equity: Advised on its USD 35 million investment in Delhivery.
• Vodafone: Advised on its USD 10.9 billion acquisition of Hutchison Essar to launch Vodafone’s operations in India.

RECOGNITION

• He has been featured in the “Top 20 Emerging Leaders for the Indian Legal market” in the inaugural RSG Emerging Leaders Report 2019, supported by Allen & Overy, London and in the “50 Super Lawyers” based on client feedback in a survey conducted by Asian Legal Business.