As a team of highly commercial lawyers, our mission is to be an aspirational brand for complex cross-border transactions. We are specialised transactional lawyers mainly focused on investment funds, private equity and M&A. Our service proposition, at the threshold, is built on the primary attribute of ’empathy’ – where we completely understand the commercial and strategic objectives of our clients and take pride in eliminating choices and optimizing results for our clients.
We have been closely associated with the investment funds industry and have advised some of the largest global sponsors and sovereign wealth funds. Our core specialism, therefore, is to advise on every aspect across the lifecycle of a fund – from formation, investments, structured transactions, governance issues (fund and portfolio level), to exits and commercial disputes. In addition to legal expertise, our key standout ability is to understand deal-specific tax and accounting issues and engage with principals in devising deal commercials including mathematical formulations.
We have been involved in prominent public equity, private equity, M&A and private credit transactions across different industry verticals. Underlying our experience and expertise is the team’s unflinching commitment towards research and advocacy efforts. Our research-based approach to advising transactions has allowed us to develop innovative structures and anticipate critical roadblocks in high-stakes transactions.
The heart of our practice is a common vision we share – to function as a firm driven by purpose and not merely by profit. We like to be identified by our values and organizational philosophy. We work with a select family of clients where we function with utmost professionalism yet remain emotionally invested with our clients’ purpose. Success for us is a measure of happiness, innovation, and professional excellence.
B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), ILS Law College
Public M&A is arguably the most nuanced field of deal-making in India, considering the myriad legislations and constantly evolving corporate governance practices.
Our private equity practise is driven by a practical understanding of the vulnerabilities of offshore financial sponsors, LP-GP relationships, and importantly, governance standards required by fund managers.
Our private credit / structured finance team specializes in high yield private debt transactions (primarily foreign debt), mezzanine debt infusions and securitization of different asset classes.
Infrastructure Investment Trusts (“InvITs“) and infrastructure is a core specialism of the firm. In 2019 alone, members of the team have advised some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and leading global financial sponsors on some of the largest and pioneering transactions in the space with overall deal values exceeding USD 5 billion.
Stakeholder governance has occupied centre-stage in the context of complex corporate transactions in the public M&A sphere.
A specialism that we take pride in is our understanding of cross-border tax issues. The role of a tax advisor has generally been undertaken by accounting firms, but each tax position taken needs to be validated under law. In our prior dealings, we have seen lack of tax-enabled advisory as a huge handicap in managing and executing high-stakes transactions.
Our core practice is centred around funds and asset management, and we have extensive expertise in advising on the various aspects in the lifecycle of an investment fund. We view fundraising as the foundation of the lifecycle of an investment fund and as a critical piece that informs various aspects of its operations and investment programme. We apply a rigorous process to our fund formation projects, which involves a study of the outcome of prior investor negotiations and approaches adopted by peer funds in the market, a thorough deliberation of the commercials, and ultimately, the structuring and documentation exercise.
Our funds practice benefits from our team’s first-hand experience with fundraising on behalf of some of the largest fund houses in India, Europe and the United States. Internationally, members of our team have represented some of the largest sponsors such as EQT and CVC on their flagship buyout funds. Our team has acted on product offerings across various asset classes, ranging from vanilla venture capital and private equity funds to more bespoke products in the real estate, infrastructure, debt, fintech and impact investment space. We take pride in being thought leaders, unafraid of innovation and have been at the forefront of developing innovative structures during challenging fundraising cycles.
On the research side, we closely follow judicial developments and market trends on governance issues and fiduciary responsibilities. As these continue to assume greater importance in LP-GP negotiations during the course of fund operations, we are committed to identifying and defending the most efficient protections in terms of key person obligations, change of control, GP removal triggers and indemnification provisions.
As lawyers, we believe it is important to shape conversations relating to legal reform. With this in mind, our team has been actively involved with the rollout of the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) Regulations (which replaced the erstwhile FII Regulations) and the introduction of the regulatory framework for Real Estate Investment Trusts, to take a few examples. Whilst the mainstay of our practice is focused on representation of sponsors, our team has, from time to time, been retained to act for LPs in special situations (such as where the LP is the cornerstone investor or where the LP is participating in a managed account arrangement or investing in a single-asset fund). We have been engaged repeatedly by some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and large institutional investors.