Deals – Aug 24, 2016

Allen & Gledhill has also advised DBS Bank, as the facility agent, and HSBC, OCBC, Bank of China, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, in respect of the S$800 million (US$592.6m) facilities to DBS Trustee, trustee of Mapletree Commercial Trust. The proceeds of the facilities were used to finance the acquisition of Mapletree Business City. Partner Lim Wei Ting led the transaction.

AZB & Partners is advising M3M India in respect of the acquisition of a majority stake of its subsidiary Mikado Realtors by Tata Realty and Infrastructure and Standard Chartered Real Estate Investment (Singapore) VII. Partner Hardeep Sachdeva is leading the transaction, which is valued at Rs5 billion (US$74.5m) and is yet to be completed.

AZB & Partners has also advised Health Care at Home India, as the selling shareholder, and Health Impetus in respect of the acquisition of a majority stake in Health Impetus by M3. Partner Gautam Saha led the transaction which was completed on August 1, 2016.

Baker & McKenzie has advised building materials company LafargeHolcim in respect of the divestment of its interest in Holcim Lanka to Siam City Cement, Thailand’s second largest cement producer, for an enterprise value of US$400 million. Holcim Lanka is a leading cement manufacturer in Sri Lanka and operates a fully integrated cement plant with an annual capacity of about 1.3 million tonnes in Puttalam. The company also operates a cement grinding facility in Galle with annual capacity of about one million tonnes and manages three terminals with packing capacities in three local ports with total annual import capacity of 1.6 million tonnes. Singapore principal Andrew Martin, support by London partners Tim Gee and Richard Blunt, led the transaction.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has acted as Indian counsel to Softbank in respect of a restructuring and financing exercise of Bharti Softbank Holdings (BSH), its Singapore-based joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, and its impact on the existing investment in Hike, an Indian subsidiary of BSH. Hike operates the messaging platform Hike Messenger and raised US$175 million on August 16, 2016 in a new round of funding led by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings and Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan, valuing the company at about US$1.4 billion. Existing investors Tiger Global, Bharti Global and SoftBank also participated in this round. The recent round of funding is one of the biggest fund raisers in the Indian internet sector. Mumbai corporate and private clients partner Rishabh Shroff led the transaction while Herbert Smith Freehills Singapore acted as transaction counsel.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has also acted as Indian counsel to State Bank of India and DBS Bank in respect of the US$400 million external commercial borrowing financing of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) under RBI Approval Route to enhance roadways for connectivity to the port. This is the first dollar-denominated loan for JNPT and the first such loan by a major port in India. Mumbai project financing partner Amey Pathak led the transaction while Norton Rose Fulbright, led by Gregory Xu, was the English law counsel.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth has advised Japanese firm Rakuten Securities in respect of its acquisition of 100 percent of the shares in FXAsia, an Australian foreign currency broker. Rakuten Securities is a member of the Rakuten Group, a major Japanese e-commerce and financial services provider. The FXAsia acquisition marks the Rakuten Group’s first investment in Australia. Corporate partners Michael Chaaya and Jeremy Horwood led the transaction.

Davis Polk is advising Joy City Property in respect of its disposal of a 49 percent shareholding in six mixed-use complex property projects in the PRC to subsidiaries of China Life Insurance and GIC (Realty). The disposal is effected by transferring a 49 percent interest in these projects to Joy City Commercial Property Fund LP, in which subsidiaries of China Life and GIC are limited partners. The total consideration of the disposal amounts to approximately RMB9.3 billion (US$1.4b), subject to adjustment. Hong Kong-listed Joy City is principally engaged in development, operation, sales, leasing and management of mixed-use complexes and commercial properties in the PRC. China Life is a leading Chinese life insurer. GIC is a Singapore sovereign wealth fund. Hong Kong corporate partner Paul Chow led the transaction.

J Sagar Associates is advising BSE and NSE-listed ICRA in respect of the sale of the entire stake in its wholly-owned subsidiary, ICRA Techno Analytics (ICTEAS), to Nihilent Technologies for Rs687.5 million (US$10.25m). ICTEAS is engaged in the business of software development, its implementation and post implementation support services in the area of business intelligence, business analytics, enterprise, web content and management, including enterprise resource planning implementation. Partner Lalit Kumar, supported by partner Divyanshu Pandey, is leading the transaction. Nihilent is represented by Khaitan & Co (Mumbai).

J Sagar Associates has also advised US fund Creation Investments Fusion and Spanish fund Global Financial Inclusion Fund (Gawa) in respect of the recent fund raising by Fusion Microfinance, a company that provides loan facilities to underprivileged women in India. Creation invested around Rs990 million (US$14.76m) through both primary investment in Fusion Microfinance and secondary sale to Incofin, a fund based in Belgium that made a partial exit, along with a few other existing domestic investors, in Fusion Microfinance while Gawa made a primary investment of around Rs333 million (US$5m). The existing investors, Belgium Investment Company and Oikocredit, also invested around Rs148 million (US$2.2m) and Rs140 million (US$2m), respectively. Partner Lalit Kumar also led the transaction. Fusion Microfinance was represented by Universal Legal.

Khaitan & Co has advised X10 Financial Services in respect of the 100 percent acquisition of the shares of Bibby Financial Services (India) from its resident shareholder Vikas Nanda and non-resident shareholder Bibby FS (Holdings). X10 is a non-banking financial services company which finances the short-term working capital requirements of small and medium enterprises. It is a part of Inflexionpoint Asia, a Singapore-based investment and acquisitions firm focused on IT supply chain and telecom businesses with presence in South-East Asia and India. Partner Ashwin Bishnoi, supported by executive director Daksha Baxi, led the transaction.

Khaitan & Co has also advised Dewan Housing Finance in respect of the maiden public issue of non-convertible debentures aggregating to Rs40 billion (US$ 596m). Dewan Housing Finance is India’s second largest private housing finance company. Executive Director Sudhir Bassi and associate partners Manisha Shroff and Aditya Cheriyan led the transaction.

Latham & Watkins has advised Everbright Securities in respect of its Hong Kong IPO, making it the second Chinese securities firm to list in Hong Kong this year. Based on the offer price of HK$12.68 (US$1.63) per H-share, the net proceeds from the global offering, after deduction of the underwriting commissions and other estimated expenses and assuming no exercise of the over-allotment option, is estimated to be approximately HK$8.3 billion (US$1.07b). The global offering comprises a total of 680 million H-shares, subject to the over-allotment option. The final number of offer shares allocated to the placees under the international offering is 612 million offer shares, representing 90 percent of the total number of the offer shares under the global offering (before the exercise of the over-allotment option), while the remaining 10 percent, or 68 million offer shares, will be allotted and issued to the applicants under the Hong Kong public offering. Hong Kong partners Cathy Yeung, Eugene Lee and William Woo led the transaction.

Shearman & Sterling has advised Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse as the underwriters in respect of the issuance of US$260 million 7 percent senior notes due 2022 by Indonesia-listed Lippo Karawaci. The notes were issued under Regulation S and are traded on the SGX-ST. Lippo Karawaci is one of the leading broad-based property companies in Indonesia by market capitalisation, assets and revenue. Its key business areas include urban development, large scale integrated development, retail malls, healthcare, hospitality and infrastructure, as well as property and portfolio management. Partners Alan Yeung (Hong Kong, capital markets), Kyungwon Lee (New York/Hong Kong, capital markets) and Mei Lian (London, finance) led the transaction.

Shook Lin & Bok is acting for EUN (UK), EUN Holdings (UK) and EUN Holdings in respect of their proposed acquisition of all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares in the capital of euNetworks Group, other than those already held by the group, at S$1.16 (US$0.86) per share or, in lieu thereof, partnership interests in EUN Holdings per share, to be effected by way of a scheme of arrangement. The transaction values the acquisition at approximately S$175 million (US$129.6m). Partners David Chong, Michelle Phang and Dayne Ho are leading the transaction.

Sidley Austin has represented Foxconn Technology Group in respect of its investment in Hike Messenger, India’s only homegrown messaging platform and the largest Indian internet company by users. Hike Messenger raised a Series D financing of more than US$175 million in a new funding round led by Tencent Holdings and Foxconn, valuing the company at close to US$1.4 billion. Existing investors Tiger, Bharti and the SoftBank Group also participated in this round. This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike Messenger, taking the total investment to over US$250 million so far. Vivek Baid led the transaction, which was announced on August 16, 2016.

Simpson Thacher has represented China National Chemical, known as ChemChina, in respect of obtaining clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US for ChemChina’s proposed US$43 billion acquisition of Swiss agrochemical firm Syngenta. Washington DC managing partner Peter Thomas led the transaction.

SSEK Legal Consultants has acted as Indonesian counsel to Shinhan Investment, one of South Korea’s leading securities brokers and investment banks, in respect of its acquisition of Indonesian securities company Makinta Securities. Partner Fahrul Yusuf led the transaction while Kim & Chang acted as South Korean counsel.

WongPartnership is acting for Global Grand Leisure as one of the investors in respect of a fundraising round for social dating app Paktor, which raised US$10 million in venture investment. Partner Ong Sin Wei is leading the transaction.