OVERVIEW

Geeta Dhania is a Partner based in New Delhi and heads the Capital Markets practice at the firm. Ms. Dhania has been recognized by IFLR 1000 as one of India’s leading capital market lawyers and a ‘Recognised Practitioner’ by Chambers & Partners Asia-Pacific.

She has led transactions that include domestic and international listings of equity, debt and convertible securities, and span private placements and public offerings by issuers across a wide range of industries. Ms. Dhania has advised on some of the largest transactions in the Indian capital markets, including the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) ETF; Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Coal India, Reliance Nippon, Reliance General Insurance, Ujjivan Financial Services, RBL Bank Limited, Mas Financial Services, Security and Intelligence Services, HUDCO, MOIL, Muthoot Finance; Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) of CESC, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Edelweiss Financial Services, Yes Bank Limited; and follow on public offerings by Engineers India, REC, NTPC Limited.

Other transactions of significance which Ms. Dhania has advised on include the stake sale by Government of India in ONGC through an offer for sale on the stock exchanges, the issue of perpetual debt securities and listing on the SGX-ST by Ballarpur. In addition, Ms. Dhania works closely with leading investment banks in India on various corporate and securities law matters.

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Capital Markets / General Corporate / Transactional Experience

• Advised on some of the largest transactions in the Indian capital markets, including the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) ETF; initial public offering of Coal India, Reliance Nippon, Reliance General Insurance, Ujjivan Financial Services, Mas Financial Services, Security and Intelligence Services, HUDCO, MOIL, Muthoot Finance; qualified institutions placement of CESC, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Edelweiss Financial Services, Yes Bank Limited; and follow on public offerings by Engineers India, REC, NTPC Limited.
  Initial Listings in India
• Acting as counsels to the book running lead managers (Axis capital, BoB Capital Markets, Dam Capital and SBI Capital Markets) on the INR 5,000 million proposed IPO by Lava international Limited.
• Acted as the sole counsel to the Company and the book running lead manager on INR1,654.16 million the IPO by Venus Pipe & Tubes Limited.

Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP)

• Acted as the counsel to the book running lead managers in relation to QIP by Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.
• Acted as counsel to the company in relation to INR 31,728 million QIP by DLF Limited.

Sale on the Stock Exchanges

• Acted as counsel to the Government of India in the offer for sale of equity shares of Dredging Corporation of India Limited.
• Acted as counsel to the Government of India in the offer for sale of equity shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

OVERVIEW

Girish Rawat is a qualified lawyer and company secretary with close to 15 years of experience. He is a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Girish has been involved in numerous complex and high-profile transactions. Girish advises across several sectors, including real estate, projects, infrastructure, hospitality, technology, manufacturing among others.

Girish focuses on banking, finance and restructuring, including structured finance, cross border lending, hybrid debt financing, project finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance as well as restructuring and security enforcement assignments, and the corporate insolvency resolution process.
He actively advises clients on various investment and financing transactions, including bond/ debt securities, both listed and unlisted, buyback of listed securities. He also advises clients on their investment and disinvestment strategies as well as takeover of the listed companies.

Girish has been recognized “40 Under 40 Rising Star” by Legal Era and as “Leading Lawyer” in “Financial and Corporate” by IFLR 1000 since 2017. He has been consistently recommended for his work in the practice areas of “Banking & Finance”, “Corporate and M&A”, “Capital Markets”, “Project Finance” and “Real Estate & Construction” by Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and Asia Law Profiles. He has also been named the “Finance Lawyer of the Year- India” at the Finance Monthly Global Awards 2012 and the “Finance Lawyer of the Year – India” at Corporate Live Wire 2013 edition. Prior to joining Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India, Girish has worked as Partner with Dhir & Dhir Associates for 13 years.

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1. Banking and Finance:
   • Advised Power Finance Corporation Limited in availing external commercial borrowing to the extent of INR 2340 Crore (US$ 360 Million) from State Bank of India, Hong Kong Branch. The transaction involved interalia advising the client on various regulatory aspects governing the said borrowing transaction and negotiating the financing documents with the counter party and also to cover the foreign currency risk by entering into hedging contract.
2. Projects and Infrastructure:
   • Advised GRT Jewelers Private Limited on setting up of solar power project with total capacity of 25 MW at various locations in the State of Karnataka. The Firm advised and assisted GRT on the matters pertaining to acquisition of the land for the said project. The scope inter-alia included structuring the acquisition of project land through KREDL, drafting of documentation/ agreement between the land owners, KREDL and GRT and conducting due diligence on the land measuring 100 acres in the State of Karnataka, drafting of turnkey EPC contract along with general conditions of contracts and special conditions of contract for construction, supply, services and operations.
3. Project Finance:
   • Acted as the Lenders’ Legal Counsel to the consortium of lenders comprising of Power Finance Corporation Limited, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and Bank of India, led by Power Finance Corporation Limited for the financial assistance of INR 3772 Crore to Western UP Power Transmission Company Limited for part financing the cost of setting up the transmission lines in the Western Uttar Pradesh from Mainpuri – Hapur, Mainpuri- Greater Noida and Noida – Hapur Line.
4. Real Estate:
   • Advised Landmark Infracon Private Limited on acquiring land parcel of 39.0083 acres, situated in the revenue estate of Village Rajokri, Sub-Division, Vasant Vihar, District North West, Delhi. The scope inter-alia included drafting of title due diligence report, inspection/ verification of various documents and advising over legal issues regarding the title search over the 39.0083 acres, situated in the revenue estate of Village Rajokri, Sub-Division Vasant Vihar, District North West, Delhi.
5. Capital Markets:
   • Acted as the sole legal counsel to the public issue of tax free bonds in the nature of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures aggregating to INR 5,000 Crore by Housing and Urban Development Company Limited.

OVERVIEW

With nearly 15 years of invaluable experience under his belt, Karan specializes in rendering advisory and legal assistance in the field of foreign and domestic debt financing in India with clients ranging in various sectors including renewables, roads, ports, steel, thermal power, transmission, airports, hospitality, healthcare, real estate. Karan has a holistic approach to structuring and negotiating finance and restructuring deals, having advised several stakeholders including borrowers, sponsors, lenders and bond-holders. He has advised clients on myriad financing transactions including project finance, structured finance, corporate finance, restructurings, cross-border financings, debenture issuances and overseas direct investments.

Karan’s roster of clients includes New Development Bank, Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., Intesa Sanpaolo S.P.A, Bank of America, Siemens Bank GmbH, DBS Bank, Société Générale, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Nordic Investment Bank, State Bank of India, PFC Limited, REC Limited, L&T Finance Limited, ICICI Bank, Tata Capital, Aseem Infrastructure, HDFC Bank, Aditya Birla Finance, Virescent (KKR backed renewable platform), Engie, GIP (Global Infrastructure Partners), Enel Group, the Adani Group, Renew Power, amongst others.

Karan has been recognized by several leading global publications including the following:

• ‘Ranked Lawyer’ by Chambers and Partners (Global Guide and Asia Pacific)
• ‘Top Lawyer’ in The A-List 2023-24 by India Business Law Journal.
• ‘Lawyer of the Year – India’ by Asia Law Awards 2020
• Lexology – Client Choice Award Winner (Banking) - 2022
• ‘Leading Individual’ by Legal 500
• ‘Leading Lawyer – Highly Regarded’ by IFLR 1000
• 40 under 40 Lawyers in Asia – Asian Legal Business
• ‘Distinguished Practitioner’ by Asia Law
• ‘Leading Lawyer’ by Legal Era
• 40 under 40 Rising Star Awards 2022 – Legal Era
• 40 under 40 – India’s Green Energy & Climate Leader of Tomorrow’ by EQ International
  He has also been featured in the Asia Law Client Servicing Report, 2020, which highlights lawyers who have consistently delivered high quality service to clients.
  He also holds the following positions:
• Member of the India Committee of APLMA
• Editorial board of EQ, one of India’s premier publishing and research houses for renewable energy in India

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• Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A./Renew Power: Advised Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., Intesa Sanpaolo S.P.A, Siemens Bank GmbH and Société Générale in connection with the ECB financing of USD 147 Million provided to Renew Solar Urja Private Limited (part of the Renew Power group) for a 300 MW solar power project in the state of Rajasthan.
• DBS Bank/PSA Group: Advised DBS Bank in connection with the ECB financing of SGD 470 Million provided to Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Private Limited (part of the PSA group, Singapore) for the Phase II of the Fourth Container Terminal at Navi, Mumbai, India.
• India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK)/Renew Power: Advised Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (United Kingdom) in connection with financial assistance in the form of an external commercial borrowing facility aggregating to approximately USD 31 Million, to a company developing, implementing and setting up a 100 MW (AC) solar power project.
• Renew Power (“Round The Clock”): Advised Renew Surya Roshni Private Limited in connection with ECB facilities availed by it from a consortium of 12 lenders for an amount equivalent to USD Equivalent of INR 77.60 Billion in relation to the financing, construction and operation of a 400 MW capacity "Round The Clock" Project.

OVERVIEW

Purvi Dabbiru is a Partner with the Banking & Finance and Project Finance Practice Group at Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India. Having over 11 years of experience in this space, Purvi specializes in rendering advisory and legal assistance in the fields of banking and finance, project finance and debt restructuring space.

Her expertise ranges across sectors including ports, roads, power, renewables, real estate and manufacturing, and with expertise in wide range of financial products, including fund based and non-fund based facilities, private placements of debentures and external commercial borrowings. Having advised various stakeholders including lenders, borrowers, sponsors and guarantors, Purvi has an all-round approach in structuring transactions and negotiating documentation.

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• PSA Group, Singapore: Advised Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Private Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of PSA International PTE Limited) and PSA International PTE Limited, in relation to an ECB facility aggregating to approximately SGD 630 Million and certain hedging facility, provided by DBS Bank Limited, for the purposes of financing the setting up of phase I of the fourth container terminal in Navi Mumbai, with a 30-year concession from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. We now also provide day to day advice on financing issues to BMCTPL.
• Nordic Investment Bank: Assisted Nordic Investment Bank in relation to the facility of SEK 607,000,000 and EUR 8,600,000 provided to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited by Nordic Investment Bank for the purpose of part financing of a project of the company in India consisting of construction of a HVDC multi-terminal system package.
• India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK) Ltd: Advised Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (United Kingdom) in connection with financial assistance in the form of an external commercial borrowing facility aggregating to approximately USD 31 Million, to a company (confidential) developing, implementing and setting up a 100 MW (AC) solar power project including the transmission line.
• Rajasthan Sun Technique: Advised Rajasthan Sun Technique Energy Private Limited, a company promoted by Reliance Power Limited, in connection with the financing, involving inter alia foreign currency facility and rupee term loans, for the development and operation of a 100 MW concentrating solar generation power plant at Rajasthan, with a project cost envisaged at approximately USD 410 Million.
• Consortium of Lenders led by Axis Bank Limited – Actis Group: Acted as lenders’ legal counsel for a consortium of lenders viz. Axis Bank Limited, Aseem Infrastructure Finance Limited and NIIF Infrastructure Finance Limited in relation to the financial assistances aggregating up to INR 17.799 Billion made available to four separate SPVs (forming part of the Actis Group) for the purpose of, inter alia, refinancing their existing debt with respect to their respective solar power projects in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
• L&T – Enel: Advised as lenders’ legal counsel to lenders led by L&T Finance Limited and L&T Infrastructure Finance Limited (now merged into L&T Finance Limited) in relation to rupee facilities of upto INR 14.43 Billion extended to Avikiran Solar India Private Limited (SPV forming part of the Enel group) for the purpose of, inter alia, financing the development, implementation and setting up of a 285.6 MW wind power plant in the Kutch district in the State of Gujarat.