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About Us
Who We Are
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.
Our People(Outer Page)
Our People Inner Page
Ruchir Sinha
Email : ruchir.sinha@resolutpartners.com
Phone : +91 8169272986
Recognitions
- “Distinguished Practitioner,” Corporate M&A and Private Equity, Asialaw, 2021 and 2022
- “Notable Practitioner”, Corporate M&A and Private Equity, IFLR 1000, 2020
- Recognised for “Most Innovative” transactions by Financial Times, London, 2016
- Nominated as a “Deal Maker of the Year 2019”, Thomson Reuters – Asian Legal Business, 2019
- Nominated amongst the top 3 corporate lawyers in India (under 35 category), IDEX Legal Awards, 2015
- Winner of the IBA Young Lawyer Scholarship, Vancouver, 2010
- Elected Member, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
Overview
Representative Matters
- Advised GIC Singapore on their investment in the Reliance Tower InvIT alongside Brookfield and British Columbia Investment Management Company to acquire JIO Telecom Towers
- Advised GIC Singapore on their investment in setting up the GIC – IRB InvIT (first unlisted Infrastructure Investment Trust)
- Advised GIC Singapore on their investment in Bharti Airtel QIP
- Advised Investcorp Bank on its acquisition of IDFC’s real estate and private equity asset management businesses, and in setting up their offshore fund vehicles for funding their various investment strategies (~AUM of USD 500 mn)
- Advised Cintra INR Investments BV, a subsidiary of Ferrovial S.A., Europe’s largest infrastructure groups in their investment in IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited (~USD 430 mn)
- Advised Mapletree Investment Pte. Ltd. in the buy-out of SP Infocity from CPPIB and Shapoorji Pallonji Group (~SGD 500 mn)
- Advised Glade Brook Capital on their investment in Zepto’s series D fundraise (~USD 200 mn)
- Advised GIC Singapore on their co-investment into the IndiGrid InvIT with KKR
- Advised Brookfield Asset Management on its investment in INDIS housing projects, a Hyderabad-based real estate firm (~USD 135 mn)
- Advised Glade Brook Capital and Canaan Valley Capital on their investment in Dailyhunt (~USD 100 mn)
- Advised Alpine Capital on their investment in KreditBee (~75mn)
- Advised GIC Singapore on their pre-IPO investment in Star Health
- Advised GIC in co-investment transactions into a Blackstone vehicle and Barings vehicle (with underlying listed targets)
- Advised GSO Partners (now Blackstone Credit) in the 100% sale of Mgage to Tanla Solutions against a swap of listed shares
Education
B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), ILS Law College
Publications
- “How will COVID-19 losses impact valuation in M&A transactions?”, The Economic Times, May 2020
- “Should the court restrain lenders from invoking share pledge?”, Moneycontrol, April 2020
- “Decoding India’s infrastructure investment trusts”, Infrastructure Investor (PEI Publication), October 2019
- “Pledging of Shares; Do lenders need to rethink their strategy?”, Business Standard, March 2019
- “Issues for offshore investment funds: To declare or not to declare”, MINT, September 2018
- “Evolving negotiation strategies in late stage PE investments”, MINT, August 2017
- “REITs: Will they be attractive enough?”, MINT, June 2017
- “Thin Capitalisation norms to weigh on realty offshore funding”, ET Realty, February 2017
- “Realty reforms to boost offshore funds”, ET Realty, December 2016
- “REITs- Will they now be a reality?”, ET Realty, February 2016
- “Externalisation: Regulatory regime forcing companies’ migration to foreign shores”, The Economic Times, January 2014
- “The great deception: Satyam’s accounting scandal offers salutary lessons to companies”, Authored Cover Story, Asialaw, 2009
Interviews
- Impact of Covid-19 on the deal making landscape, emerging opportunities for credit and special situations investors in infrastructure, promoter financing and securitization of loans, Exclusive Interview with MINT, June 2020
- REITs and InvITs, Exclusive Interview with ET Now, April 2017
- SEBI likely to launch REITs, CBNC TV-18, December 2013
Core Focus ( Outer Page)
Private Funds and Asset Management
Public Equity
Public M&A is arguably the most nuanced field of deal-making in India, considering the myriad legislations and constantly evolving corporate governance practices.
Private Equity/ M&A
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.
Private Credit/ Structured Finance
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 and InvITs
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 and Stewardship
Stakeholder governance has occupied centre-stage in the context of complex corporate transactions in the public M&A sphere.
Tax Structuring & Litigation
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.
Research inner page
Core Focus (Inner Page)
Core Focus
- Private Funds and Asset Management
- Public Equity
- Private Equity/ M&A
- Private Credit/ Structured Finance
- Infrastructure and InvITs
- Stakeholder Governance and Stewardship
- Tax Structuring & Litigation
Private Funds and Asset Management
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.